Slovakia claimed a 3-2 shoot-out victory over the United States on Wednesday to reach the Olympic men's ice hockey semi-finals along with the Russian Olympic Committee, Finland and Canada's conquerors Sweden.
Captain Marek Hrivik netted Slovakia's equalizer for 2-2 with 44 seconds left in the third period, there were no goals in overtime, and Peter Cehlarik scored the winner in the shoot-out. They will face the Finns in Friday's semis.
It was the second straight Olympic quarter-final exit in a shoot-out for the US team, who like the others were without their NHL players. In 2018 they lost against the Czech Republic.
"That's what happens when you don't play well," said US player Sam Hentges.
"We didn't play well in the second and third period and when you get to this level that's what happens. We didn't play how we played the last three games. It's as simple as that, that's why we lost."
With the North American NHL deciding late on not to release players for the Olympics because of fixture congestion due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US were relying on some top college players.
Canada have the same problem and lost 2-0 in their quarter-final to Sweden, with Lucas Wallmark netting the opener midway through the third period of a cagey affair.
Anton Lander made the game safe late on.
The Swedes will take on the Russians in the last four after the 2018 men's gold medallists had to swallow a surprise 1-1 equalizer against debutants Denmark from Frans Nielsen.
But Nikita Nesterov netted later in the second period and a power-play goal from Vyacheslav Vionov secured them a hard-earned 3-1 win.
Slovakia's semi opponents Finland thumped Switzerland 5-1, on the same day the Finnish women's team took bronze by also beating the Swiss.
Canada take on the US in the women's final on Thursday.
