Sochi 2014: Slovenia beats Slovakia 3-1 in its first Olympic men's hockey
Slovenia became the surprise of the 2014 Olympic men's hockey tournament by posting a 3-1 win against Slovakia. For the first time in their nation’s history, Slovenia won an Olympic hockey game.
After two scoreless periods, Slovenia came to life early in the third and then held off a furious Slovakia rally.
Slovenia only has one NHL player, Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, and they beat a Slovak team that boasts 12 NHL players.
After finishing in fourth place just four years ago at the Vancouver Olympics, Slovakia has been perhaps the worst team through two games of the 2014 tournament. As if their blowout loss to the United States on Thursday wasn't bad enough, they were were completely dominated by Slovenia on Saturday in a 3-1 loss.
For Slovenia, it was its first win in Olympic play and followed a surprisingly strong performance against Russia in its debut.