Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak helped Team Slovakia to a fourth-place finish at this year’s 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, a journey that ended with a 6-1 loss to Finland in the bronze medal game on Saturday.

Through six games in the tournament, Fehervary picked up four assists, six penalty minutes, six shots and a plus/minus rating of minus-4. The 26-year-old was tied for the Team Slovakia lead in points by a defenseman throughout the Games and also ranked second in ice time among all Slovak skaters, averaging 21:02 minutes per game.

MILAN (AP) — The United States is 40 minutes away from playing for the gold medal in men’s hockey at the Olympics. Dylan Larkin and Tage Thompson scored in the first period of the semifinal against Slovakia to give the U.

The trio of young stars will lead Slovakia into its semifinal matchup with the U.S. on Friday, realizing a dream that was formed long ago.

Slovakia unanimously names Blues' Dalibor Dvorsky as Olympics X-Factor originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

USA’s Alysa Liu won a historic gold medal. The women’s hockey team also beat Canada to clinch the gold. Follow here for live updates.