photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Czechia and Slovenia had played each other five times in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, and Czechia had a clean 5-0-0 record, with a 25-11 goal difference, or, to put it another way, a neat 5-2 average score.
Today’s game was no average game.
Slovenian hockey fans will remember May 16, 2026 for a long time. That’s when Slovenia beat Czechia 3-2 in OT.
Slovenia’s big heroes were Marcel Mahkovec who scored the game-winner after a 40-meter breakaway 1:14 into the extra frame and goaltender Lukas Horak who made 32 stops. He got a lot of help from his defense who also blocked twenty shots in the game.
“I had a couple of options, and I was pretty confident [I would score] but you never know, so I was happy to see the puck go in," said Mahkovec. “We said in the second intermission that if we believe, we can pull it off, and I guess we believed. They were the big favorite and our goal was to limit their chances, and when we tied it, we wanted to take it to overtime.
“We had a good defense, structure, and a great goalie. We blocked shots, helped the goalie and he was unreal. We believed we could do it—and we did it,” Slovenia’s captain Robert Sabolic said.
Martin Kaut and Lukas Sedlak scored for Czechia.
Czechia was the big favorite, but—as the old cliché says—that’s why we play the games.
Czechia got off to a comfortable start when they got their first power-play opportunity two minutes into the game and peppered Horak with shots.
“We couldn’t score on our power play, and they did," said Czechia captain Roman Cervenka.
Slovenia shocked Czechia by scoring the first goal of the game on their first power play. Jan Drozg found Matic Torok open in the slot, and Torok spun around, sending a backhander that beat Dominik Pavlat on the stick side.
Shot attempts were 23-6 for Czechia in the first period, but the score was 1-0 to Slovenia.
A little less than five minutes into the second period, Matyas Melovsky intercepted a Slovenian breakout pass by smacking it down from mid-air. Horak made the initial stop on Melovsky’s breakaway and managed to even stop Martin Kaut’s attempt. But finally, Kaut managed to shove the puck in and tie the game at 4:44.
In the second period, Czechia outshot Slovenia 16-3. Shot attempts were 35-6 to Czechia.
With 2:46 remaining in the period, Lukas Sedlak gave Czechia the important go-ahead goal with another backhander from the doorstep. Once again, Horak made the initial save, but couldn’t hold on to the puck, and Sedlak was there to send it top shelf.
But it wasn’t over.
Slovenia may not have Anze Kopitar, but they do have Anze Kuralt, who fired a slap shot from the slot to beat Pavlat and tie the game 8:28 into the third period. Kuralt was in the right place at the right time when Jan Golicic’s shot was redirected off a Czech defender right onto his stick.
“Anything can happen in overtime,” Sabolic noted.
He was right.
In the overtime, Czechia got on an odd-man rush, but couldn’t capitalize and the puck found its way to Mahkovec who never looked back and scored the historic 3-2 goal.
"This win gives us nothing if we lose all our other games. We have to stay cool and focus on the next game. That said, of course it was a big goal,”
"We didn’t play our game the way we wanted. We have to do everything better in our next game,” Cervenka said.
Today’s game was no average game.
Slovenian hockey fans will remember May 16, 2026 for a long time. That’s when Slovenia beat Czechia 3-2 in OT.
Slovenia’s big heroes were Marcel Mahkovec who scored the game-winner after a 40-meter breakaway 1:14 into the extra frame and goaltender Lukas Horak who made 32 stops. He got a lot of help from his defense who also blocked twenty shots in the game.
“I had a couple of options, and I was pretty confident [I would score] but you never know, so I was happy to see the puck go in," said Mahkovec. “We said in the second intermission that if we believe, we can pull it off, and I guess we believed. They were the big favorite and our goal was to limit their chances, and when we tied it, we wanted to take it to overtime.
“We had a good defense, structure, and a great goalie. We blocked shots, helped the goalie and he was unreal. We believed we could do it—and we did it,” Slovenia’s captain Robert Sabolic said.
Martin Kaut and Lukas Sedlak scored for Czechia.
Czechia was the big favorite, but—as the old cliché says—that’s why we play the games.
Czechia got off to a comfortable start when they got their first power-play opportunity two minutes into the game and peppered Horak with shots.
“We couldn’t score on our power play, and they did," said Czechia captain Roman Cervenka.
Slovenia shocked Czechia by scoring the first goal of the game on their first power play. Jan Drozg found Matic Torok open in the slot, and Torok spun around, sending a backhander that beat Dominik Pavlat on the stick side.
Shot attempts were 23-6 for Czechia in the first period, but the score was 1-0 to Slovenia.
A little less than five minutes into the second period, Matyas Melovsky intercepted a Slovenian breakout pass by smacking it down from mid-air. Horak made the initial stop on Melovsky’s breakaway and managed to even stop Martin Kaut’s attempt. But finally, Kaut managed to shove the puck in and tie the game at 4:44.
In the second period, Czechia outshot Slovenia 16-3. Shot attempts were 35-6 to Czechia.
With 2:46 remaining in the period, Lukas Sedlak gave Czechia the important go-ahead goal with another backhander from the doorstep. Once again, Horak made the initial save, but couldn’t hold on to the puck, and Sedlak was there to send it top shelf.
But it wasn’t over.
Slovenia may not have Anze Kopitar, but they do have Anze Kuralt, who fired a slap shot from the slot to beat Pavlat and tie the game 8:28 into the third period. Kuralt was in the right place at the right time when Jan Golicic’s shot was redirected off a Czech defender right onto his stick.
“Anything can happen in overtime,” Sabolic noted.
He was right.
In the overtime, Czechia got on an odd-man rush, but couldn’t capitalize and the puck found its way to Mahkovec who never looked back and scored the historic 3-2 goal.
"This win gives us nothing if we lose all our other games. We have to stay cool and focus on the next game. That said, of course it was a big goal,”
"We didn’t play our game the way we wanted. We have to do everything better in our next game,” Cervenka said.
Slovenia vs Czechia - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
OF