Slovakia has been the surprise of Olympic hockey tournament — and could be a dangerous problem for US

MILAN — Canada general manager Doug Armstrong looked like he’d narrowly avoided a car crash after his team escaped overtime Wednesday against Czechia with a 4-3 win. NBC’s cameras caught Team USA GM Bill Guerin during his team’s overtime against Sweden looking like he had the flu.

And those were the guys who won.

So what of Slovakia, surprise entrants into the Olympic semifinals and Team USA’s opponents on Friday in prime time in Italy and at 3:10 p.m. back on the East Coast?

“We play the sport we love, right?” Dalibor Dvorsky, 20-year-old St. Louis Blues winger who has been a revelation for his country in these Games, said Wednesday after Slovakia downed Germany 6-2 in the only quarterfinal that did not inspire heart palpitations. “We should be having fun playing it, and we are. So it’s great.”

Slovakia comes into this semifinal with no pressure whatsoever on their shoulders. Their goal in Milan was a quarterfinal. Now, despite a relative lack of pedigree — they’ve got some NHLers and a legit star in winger Juraj Slafkovsky, but nothing like the talent up and down the lineup for Team USA or Canada — they’re guaranteed to at least have the chance to match their 2022 bronze medal. And they are having a blast.

“It’s probably 100 times better [than 2022],” said Slafkovsky, the breakout player of these Games. “You’ve got the best players over here, and we managed to come here and go to the semifinals. It’s big for me, big for our country, big for every supporter we have.”