Ryan Donato of USA celebrates scoring the first goal against Slovakia as teammate Chris Bourque looks on during their men's ice hockey preliminary round - group B game on Friday at the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, South Korea during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Photo by Andrew Wong/UPI | License Photo
Goaltender Ryan Zapolski of USA fails to save a shot by Slovakia's Andrej Kudrna (not in picture) during their men's ice hockey preliminary round - group B game on Friday at the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, South Korea during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Photo by Andrew Wong/UPI | License Photo
Chris Bourque (L), Mark Arcobello (C) and Ryan Donato (R) celebrate the first goal scored by Donato for USA during their men's ice hockey preliminary round - group B game on Friday against Slovakia at the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, South Korea during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Photo by Andrew Wong/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Sochi bronze medal winner Finland beat Norway 5-1 to lead the men's ice hockey Group C competition on Friday at the Pyeongchang Olympics, while the United States secured first place in Group B with a 2-1 win over Slovakia.
Also in Group B, the Russians kept their hopes alive with an overwhelming 8-2 victory over Slovenia, scoring three key points in group ranking. Slovenia finished fourth.
In the other game of Group C, the Sochi silver medalists of Sweden defeated Germany with Viktor Stalberg scoring the only goal in the first period.
With the victory, Sweden was ranked second in Group C while Germany finished third and Norway fourth with two losses.
Twelve teams are competing in the men's competition. Defending champion Canada, Switzerland, the host South Korea and the Czech Republic are in Group A.
