The win, which opened the tournament's knockout stage, is the biggest in Slovenia's ice hockey history and will no doubt be cause for celebration in a country with a population of roughly 2 million people.
A first-period goal from Anze Kopitar, who missed most of his team's previous game with a stomach flu, held up as the game winner for a Slovenian team playing in their first Olympic men's ice hockey tournament.
Slovenia will play Sweden, the top-ranked team after the preliminary round, in Wednesday's quarter-final.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
