Team USA crash out of the Winter Olympics men's ice hockey after Slovakia equalized with just 46 seconds left in regulation time and then scored the ONLY penalty in a gripping quarter-finals shootout

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Slovakia claimed a shock shootout win over the United States to reach the semi-finals of the men's ice hockey tournament at the Beijing Games on Wednesday to set up a chance of claiming the country's first ever Olympic medal in the sport.

Peter Cehlarik clinched the victory as the only skater to score in the nail-biting shootout by beating U.S. netminder Strauss Mann after overtime ended with the score tied at 2-2.

After Cehlarik scored the U.S. had one last chance to extend the shootout but captain Andy Miele could not beat netminder Patrik Rybar and the Slovakia bench erupted in wild celebration.

Slovakia claimed a shock shootout win over the United States to reach the semi-finals

The U.S. appeared to have locked up a semi-final spot in regulation leading 2-1 until Slovakia pulled Rybar for an extra attacker and were rewarded with the equaliser from captain Marek Hrivik with 46 seconds remaining to force overtime.

No one was able to score in the 10-minute extra period - sending both sides to a penalty shootout. Brendan Brisson, Sean Farrell, Matt Knies, Nathan Smith and Miele were unable to find the back of the net for the U.S.  

Peter Cehlarik clinched the victory as the only skater to score in the nail-biting shootout

After Cehlarik scored the U.S. had one last chance to extend the shootout but captain Andy Miele (above) could not beat netminder Patrik Rybar

Slovakia star, Cehlarik, proved to be the difference - scoring after Libor Hudacek, Michal Cajkovsky, and Michal Kristof had been denied by U.S. netminder Mann.  

The result came as a shock to the U.S. given the fact they had scored the most amount of goals (16) and allowed the least amount of goals in (5) during the group stages. 

Whereas, Slovakia entered the playoff game having allowed 12 goals in during their last three fixtures.  

The result came as a shock to the U.S. given the fact they had scored scored the most amount of goals (16) and allowed the least amount of goal in (5) during the group stages

The U.S. will be frustrated with the result as the men's squad have not medaled in the Winter Olympics since they claimed silver in the 2010 - losing out on the gold to Canada. 

Meanwhile, Slovakia will be looking to push on in pursuit of their first ever medal in men's ice hockey at the Olympic Games. 

The furthest they have made it in the competition before was the bronze medal match in 2010. However, they were beaten 5-3 by Finland.