photo: Tim Austen/IIHF
Tomas Chrenko tied a U18 record by scoring three-power play goals to lead Slovakia to a critical 9-1 win over Norway this afternoon in Allen, Texas. The win puts the team in second place behind Canada and guarantees the Slovaks a spot in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. It also means Norway will finish fifth in Group A and will have to play in the relegation game earlier that day for the second year in a row.
Slovakia is now 1-1-0-1 while Norway drops to 0-0-1-2. Both teams have one game remaining. Slovakia plays Latvia on Monday, hoping to move up in the standings, while the Norwegians play Canada later Monday prior to the key relegation game.
Slovakia went 5-for-6 on the power play today, and Jan Chovan also registered a hat trick for the winners.
"We had a good start to the game and played really well offensively," Chrenko said. "We got just rewards for the way we played. But right now we're just focusing on the next game and not thinking about the playoffs or anything else. The most important thing is we play as a team and get better every game, shift by shift."
"We knew if we got at least two points today we'd be close to the quarter-finals, but now we're going to the relegation game," said a disconsolate Norway captain Marius Maattanen. "We had a good feeling before the tournament that we could make the quarter-finals. Norway has never gotten that far. It would have been a huge accomplishment for Norwegian hockey."
It didn’t take long for Slovakia to establish its superiority today. They clicked on an early power play when Chovan tipped a point shot form Luka Radivojevic on a power play at 2:07.
Chrenko got his first of the game with only 30.7 seconds remaining in the opening period when his bad-angle shot squeezed between the pads of Felix Timraz-Westin.
The Slovaks poured it on in the second, adding four goals and putting the game out of reach. Chrenko got his second at 1:53 with another goal five-on-four. This time it was a high shot that eluded Timraz-Westin.
Tobias Tomik made it 4-0 less than five minutes later, roofing a backhand after a quick breakout off a faceoff win in the Slovak end. Midway through the period the team enjoyed a lengthy two-skater advantage, and they clicked again. This time Chromak’s hat-trick goal came off a nice pass from Alex Misiak at 11:34.
Slovakia made it 6-0 in the final minute off a tic-tac-toe passing play around the Norway goal, Chovan finishing the play with 47.3 seconds remaining. Norway finally of the better of Michal Pradel when a quick shot from Niklas Aaram Olsen beat the goalie high over the shoulder with 7.8 second showing on the clock.
It was all Slovakia in the third as they added three more goals in the last fibe minutes.
Slovakia is now 1-1-0-1 while Norway drops to 0-0-1-2. Both teams have one game remaining. Slovakia plays Latvia on Monday, hoping to move up in the standings, while the Norwegians play Canada later Monday prior to the key relegation game.
Slovakia went 5-for-6 on the power play today, and Jan Chovan also registered a hat trick for the winners.
"We had a good start to the game and played really well offensively," Chrenko said. "We got just rewards for the way we played. But right now we're just focusing on the next game and not thinking about the playoffs or anything else. The most important thing is we play as a team and get better every game, shift by shift."
"We knew if we got at least two points today we'd be close to the quarter-finals, but now we're going to the relegation game," said a disconsolate Norway captain Marius Maattanen. "We had a good feeling before the tournament that we could make the quarter-finals. Norway has never gotten that far. It would have been a huge accomplishment for Norwegian hockey."
It didn’t take long for Slovakia to establish its superiority today. They clicked on an early power play when Chovan tipped a point shot form Luka Radivojevic on a power play at 2:07.
Chrenko got his first of the game with only 30.7 seconds remaining in the opening period when his bad-angle shot squeezed between the pads of Felix Timraz-Westin.
The Slovaks poured it on in the second, adding four goals and putting the game out of reach. Chrenko got his second at 1:53 with another goal five-on-four. This time it was a high shot that eluded Timraz-Westin.
Tobias Tomik made it 4-0 less than five minutes later, roofing a backhand after a quick breakout off a faceoff win in the Slovak end. Midway through the period the team enjoyed a lengthy two-skater advantage, and they clicked again. This time Chromak’s hat-trick goal came off a nice pass from Alex Misiak at 11:34.
Slovakia made it 6-0 in the final minute off a tic-tac-toe passing play around the Norway goal, Chovan finishing the play with 47.3 seconds remaining. Norway finally of the better of Michal Pradel when a quick shot from Niklas Aaram Olsen beat the goalie high over the shoulder with 7.8 second showing on the clock.
It was all Slovakia in the third as they added three more goals in the last fibe minutes.
Norway vs Slovakia - 2025 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship
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