Martin Fehervary will be returning to Washington, DC without a medal, but he should still be proud of what he and Slovakia achieved at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The Slovaks fared better than expected, winning their group and advancing to the Bronze Medal Game. Unfortunately, they were unable to beat Finland in that matchup, losing 6-1 on Saturday.
Among the final four teams — the USA, Canada, Finland, and Slovakia — the Slovaks were the only team to dress a lineup that included non-NHL players.
Slovakia got a goal from former NHL talent Tomas Tatar in the second period to cut Finland’s lead to 2-1, but was unable to contain a four-goal explosion from the Finns in the third period. Finland, medalists in men’s hockey for a second straight Olympics, got goals from Sebastian Aho, Erik Haula, Roope Hintz, Kaapo Kakko, and Joel Armia to seal the game.
Juuse Saros started for the Finns again, making 30 saves on 31 shots faced. Samuel Hlavaj was in net for Slovakia, making 29 stops on the 33 shots he faced.
Fehervary played 17:43 of ice time in the loss, notching an assist and two shots on goal. The 26-year-old defender finished the tournament with four points, all assists, in six games, and he averaged 21:01 of ice time per game to rank second on Slovakia.
With the four assists, Fehervary tied Lubomir Sekeras (1998) for the most by a Slovakian defenseman in an Olympics involving NHL players.
The final game of the tournament, the Gold Medal Game between the USA and Canada, is on Sunday at 8:10 am ET.
