It’s been a long time since the men’s hockey world was treated to best-on-best action at the Olympics, and naturally all eyes have been affixed on the four juggernauts: Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland’s star-studded rosters all have hopes for gold as we head to the elimination round.

And yet, there may not be a bigger story from the Olympics than tiny Slovakia (shocking Group B winner, I will note) and 21-year-old sensation Juraj Slafkovsky.

Slafkovsky is a former first-overall pick for a reason — he’s a freakish combination of size (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) and skill, and the Montreal Canadiens fans have been salivating watching his game round out. The winger found his scoring touch almost immediately, and is pacing for a 30-goal season, health permitting:

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So maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise to see Slafkovsky storm through Group B, but he also has a reputation for elevating his game at the international level — the Slovakian is best known for scoring seven goals at the 2022 Winter Olympics as a 17-year-old!

But this year’s run has the chance to top it. His six points (three goals, three assists) in three games are tied with Canada’s Macklin Celebrini for second in Olympic scoring, with the young duo only trailing Canadian Connor McDavid and his typical supernova production.

One part of Slafkovsky’s scoring surge worth emphasizing is that it’s coming on the back of impressive offensive volume. His 15 shots on goal are also near the top of the Olympic leaderboard, indicative of a player spending a lot of time on the attack in the offensive third:

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Slafkovsky has certainly carried a lot of the load for Slovakia, but winning a group that includes both Sweden and Finland takes a bit more than impressive contributions from one player. It helps playing with skaters like NHL veterans Tomas Tatar and Adam Ruzicka to start. Fellow youngster Dalibor Dvorsky, amidst an impressive rookie season with the St. Louis Blues, has four points of his own.

And it goes without saying that it’s hard to write a real hockey underdog story without some goaltending outperformance, and that’s what Samuel Hlavaj has given Slovakia in net. His 93.4 per cent stop rate in three appearances is on par with Finland’s Juuse Saros, an impressive feather in the cap for a player who might be fifth right now on the Minnesota Wild organizational depth chart.

Perhaps the best part of Slafkovsky’s surge and Slovakia’s surprise victory of Group B? There is a clear path to a medal game. Slovakia is slated to play the winner of the Germany and France matchup on Tuesday; the Leon Draisaitl-led Germans defeated the French 5-1 Tuesday, but are underdogs against Slovakia. One Slovakia win means they’ll be playing inside of the final four, though a daunting matchup against the United States could await them if seeding holds.

Pulling off an upset against a team of that calibre would be a statement of magnitudes. But just days removed from a stunning three-goal upset of Finland, it would be foolish to count Slafkovsky and the Slovaks out.

Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey

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