Slovakia's speed and skill was too much for Slovenia
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
The countries’ names, Slovenia and Slovakia, look sort of the same, and even their flags are similar, but on the ice, there was a clear difference as Slovakia took down Slovenia, 3-1.
Three different players scored for Slovakia; goaltender Samuel Hlavaj made 17 saves. Ken Ograjensek scored for Slovenia, and goaltender Matija Pintaric stopped 36 shots.
"We played our game, and we were strong. We had a few powerplay opportunities and we have to work on those so we can score more goals,” said Slovakia's alternate captain Michal Ivan.
"Our first period was pretty bad, but then we started to skate more. We have to keep things simple, and get back to basics,” Slovenia’s Rok Macuh said.
Slovakia got off to a great start thanks to an early powerplay which handed them control of the game. Even though Slovenia managed to kill the penalty and even got a power play opportunity of their own right after, Slovakia dominated the game in the first period.
Right after Slovenia had killed another early penalty, the play continued in the Slovenian zone, and a poke check by Adam Sykora sent the puck to Sebastian Cederle who was all alone in front of Pintaric. Cederle made a nice move that sent the Slovenian goalie one way and fired a backhander top shelf to make it 1-0 at 8.20.
Sixty-six seconds later Pavol Regenda skillfully deflected Samuel Knazko’s point shot into the Slovenian net to double the Slovak lead.
Slovakia outshot Slovenia 22-6 in the second period but only scored once.
“It is different to prepare for a game when we’re the favorite to win, like today, and we had to make some changes to our game. It can be difficult, but it's also more fun,” Ivan said.
Halfway through the period, Slovakia scored another power play goal. The puck went around and across the Slovenian zone as if on a string, until Robert Lantosi sent a cross-ice pass to Michal Kristof. Pintaric had no chance of getting any part of his body in front of the puck and Kristof could fire a wrister into a wide open net to make it 3-0 at 11.12.
With 90 seconds remaining in the period, Slovenia’s Jan Drozg went coast to coast and beat Hlavaj with a wrister from high slot, but a video review showed the situation had been an offside.
Five minutes into the third period, Slovenia got a golden opportunity to get on the board when they had a two-man advantage for more than a minute. And just as Regenda jumped back on the ice, the puck was in Slovakia’s net, thanks to Ograjensek’s nice tip from the doorstep to make it 3-1 at 6.29.
“Every team is good here, so we have to do our best every game if we want to get points. It doesn't matter if we play Austria or Latvia or Slovakia," Macuh said.
Slovenia pulled Pintaric with a minute remaining, but the Slovaks managed to keep the score at 3-1.
Three different players scored for Slovakia; goaltender Samuel Hlavaj made 17 saves. Ken Ograjensek scored for Slovenia, and goaltender Matija Pintaric stopped 36 shots.
"We played our game, and we were strong. We had a few powerplay opportunities and we have to work on those so we can score more goals,” said Slovakia's alternate captain Michal Ivan.
"Our first period was pretty bad, but then we started to skate more. We have to keep things simple, and get back to basics,” Slovenia’s Rok Macuh said.
Slovakia got off to a great start thanks to an early powerplay which handed them control of the game. Even though Slovenia managed to kill the penalty and even got a power play opportunity of their own right after, Slovakia dominated the game in the first period.
Right after Slovenia had killed another early penalty, the play continued in the Slovenian zone, and a poke check by Adam Sykora sent the puck to Sebastian Cederle who was all alone in front of Pintaric. Cederle made a nice move that sent the Slovenian goalie one way and fired a backhander top shelf to make it 1-0 at 8.20.
Sixty-six seconds later Pavol Regenda skillfully deflected Samuel Knazko’s point shot into the Slovenian net to double the Slovak lead.
Slovakia outshot Slovenia 22-6 in the second period but only scored once.
“It is different to prepare for a game when we’re the favorite to win, like today, and we had to make some changes to our game. It can be difficult, but it's also more fun,” Ivan said.
Halfway through the period, Slovakia scored another power play goal. The puck went around and across the Slovenian zone as if on a string, until Robert Lantosi sent a cross-ice pass to Michal Kristof. Pintaric had no chance of getting any part of his body in front of the puck and Kristof could fire a wrister into a wide open net to make it 3-0 at 11.12.
With 90 seconds remaining in the period, Slovenia’s Jan Drozg went coast to coast and beat Hlavaj with a wrister from high slot, but a video review showed the situation had been an offside.
Five minutes into the third period, Slovenia got a golden opportunity to get on the board when they had a two-man advantage for more than a minute. And just as Regenda jumped back on the ice, the puck was in Slovakia’s net, thanks to Ograjensek’s nice tip from the doorstep to make it 3-1 at 6.29.
“Every team is good here, so we have to do our best every game if we want to get points. It doesn't matter if we play Austria or Latvia or Slovakia," Macuh said.
Slovenia pulled Pintaric with a minute remaining, but the Slovaks managed to keep the score at 3-1.
Slovakia vs Slovenia - 2025 IIHF WM
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