By Steve Keating
BEIJING (Reuters) – Slovakia men’s ice hockey claimed an historic first Olympic medal on Saturday by beating Sweden 4-0 to take bronze at the Beijing Winter Games.
As one half of the former Czechoslovakia, they made several appearances on the Olympic podium and as an independent nation reached the semi-finals at the 2010 Vancouver Games but failed to medal, losing to Finland in the bronze match.
Slovakia would not be denied a second time, 17-year-old sensation Juraj Slafkovsky leading the attack with a pair of goals and Samuel Takac and Pavol Regenda one each while Patrik Rybar was unbeatable in net stopping all 28 shots he faced.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will try to clinch back-to-back Olympic titles when they face off against Finland on Sunday in the gold medal game.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Beijing, additional reporting Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
