Finland’s young hockey players laid the foundations for a convincing victory over Slovakia in the first period, scoring four goals in the first 20 minutes. That was almost as many shots on goal as Slovakia had in the first period (five).
In the second period, the Slovaks had opportunities, playing in the majority for five minutes, but it did not lead to any results. The Slovakian U18 national team had only eight shots on goal in the entire game. Although Finland slowed down after a devastating first period, it was still a comfortable 4-0 victory.
Slovakia’s loss is not a surprise, but an unpleasant result for the Slovaks nonetheless, as Slovakia are still without a point in three games.
Slovakia has only a match against Norway left, while the Norwegians also have a match against Latvia (tomorrow).
Playing against Norway, Slovakia will still have a chance to avoid the last place in the group and still enter the quarterfinals (unless the Latvian national team scores at least a point against the USA in tonight’s game and then loses to the Norwegians in regular time).
However, Slovakia’s chances of overtaking Latvia in the tournament table have shrunk considerably – this can only happen if the Latvian U18 national team loses both tonight against the USA and tomorrow against Norway in regular time, but the Slovaks beat Norway in regular time, accumulating better goal statistics.
It should be reminded that the Slovakian U18 national team reached the semi-finals of the WC a year ago and won fourth place.
On the other hand, in subgroup B, Sweden suffered the second loss, losing 2:3 to the Czech Republic in the penalty shootout. These two national teams will not have to worry about a place in the quarterfinals.
Latvian game calendar
| The date | Opponent | Res. |
|---|---|---|
| 25.04. | Finland | 1:3 |
| 26.04. | Slovakia | 5:3 |
| 28.04. | United States | 18.00 |
| 29.04. | Norway | 17.30 |
Tournament table
| V | Group A | S | U | UP | ZP | Z | +/- | P | Group B | S | U | UP | ZP | Z | +/- | P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17:2 | 6 | Canada | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12:3 | 6 | |||
| 2. | Finland | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14:1 | 9 | Czech Republic | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6:8 | 5 | |||
| 3. | Latvia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6:6 | 3 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12:10 p.m | 4 | |||
| 4. | Norway | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2:15 a.m | 0 | Switzerland | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5:5 | 3 | |||
| 5. | Slovakia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3:18 a.m | 0 | Kazakhstan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3:12 a.m | 0 |
Resources used:
IIHF – Home
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