The 2026 Winter Olympics continue in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, and boy, are things heating up on the ice. The men’s ice hockey tournament reaches the Quarterfinals this morning, which begin with Slovakia vs. Germany at 6:10 a.m. EST for stateside viewers. This projects as one of the closer matchups of the schedule thus far and could truly go either direction.
Below, we’ll hit a brief preview, prediction and betting pick for Wednesday’s Olympic hockey Quarterfinal matchup between Slovakia and Germany.
Slovakia vs. Germany prediction, preview
How about the Slovaks, yeah? Despite entering as a long shot to even medal, they managed to secure a bye into the Quarterfinal by winning a competitive Group B over even Finland and Sweden. Team Slovakia won a pair of games in regulation during the Group Stage — a 4-1 upset over the Finns and 3-2 against Italy — dropping one regulation match to Sweden by a 5-3 margin. While Slovakia was outshot in two of those three contests, efficient shooting got the job done as the group rode its goalie play to make it this far.
Netminder Samuel Hlavaj (in the system for MIN) started two games, logging a .934 SV% on 85 possible chances. While Slovakia falls middle of the pack in shots allowed (113) and fourth-lowest in shots for (85), the group has still found plenty of success. They allowed eight goals and scored 10 of their own, enjoying impressive play from star forward Juraj Slafkovsky (MTL). With three points and three assists, his six points were tied for second-most in the competition heading into the playoff stages. He maintains the team lead in goals, with Adam Ruzicka of the KHL second on the side with two. Martin Gernat and Dalibor Dvorsky (STL) sit second on Team Slovakia with four points apiece, while Ruzicka is third with three.
The Germans finished Group C play with one regulation win and two regulation losses — the lone victory coming 3-1 over Denmark. However, the Germans fell 4-3 to Latvia in a very winnable game to follow it, then were predictably blown out 5-1 by the USA to conclude the Group Stage. However, it’s not all bad. Germany defeated France 5-1 in a dominant showing during the qualifying matchup, with five separate skaters recording a goal in that one as they outshot their opponent 36-31 with a pair of scores on the power play.
France was an easy opponent, but the signs from that game feel encouraging. Tim Stutzle (OTT) improved his point total to six along with Leon Draisaitl (EDM) as the pair sit tied for the team lead. Notably, the former’s four goals are a team-best, and the latter’s two make him the only other multi-goal scorer. However, JJ Peterka (UTA) has four points, followed by Frederik Tiffels with three. There’s a decent batch of NHL talent among the forwards, at least in terms of production in this tournament. At goalie, Philipp Grubauer (SEA) has put forth an excellent run with a .934 SV% and 2.03 GAA as well.
Slovakia vs. Germany pick, best bet
Germany enters this matchup as a 1.5-goal favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook with -118 odds to win outright. Slovakia holds -102 odds of an outright upset with the game total set at 5.5 combined goals.
There are a pair of hot goalies between the pipes in this one, but Grubauer certainly has more experience than his much younger counterpart. He’s a little bit easier to trust, and it certainly matters that the Germans have 14 fewer penalty minutes in this tournament than the Slovaks do. The latter has to tighten up the penalties to keep this one close because they will be punished for sloppy discipline. Still, they’re capable of winning this contest assuming Slafkovsky keeps firing on all cylinders.
That’s the problem, though. He has to perform at this same elite level for Slovakia to have a chance. On the other side, Germany has gotten more support from other sources in its lines and can potentially weather a poorer game from Draisaitl or Stutzle thanks to better depth. With the blue line certain to sell out to stop Slafkovsky, someone else may have to step up for the Slovaks on Wednesday morning. It’s tougher to trust them in this spot, so that’s why I’m targeting Germany on the Moneyline to take this matchup. This should be a fun one!
