photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
The Danes, stuck at zero points, desperately needed a win, while a regulation victory would lift the Slovaks into the fight for the top position in Group B alongside Canada and Czechia.
Slovakia left nothing to chance. They controlled the game from beginning to end, outshooting Denmark 44-14. Most importantly, they won the game 5-1.
“We played a good game. Everybody did his job, and have a hundred percent, maybe more,” said Patrik Koch.
And they had Oliver Okuliar. The 25-year-old from Trencin—who will turn 26 on Sunday—scored twice and added an assist.
Slovakia was riding a three-game winning streak against Denmark, dating back to May 2019, when they beat the Danes in a penalty shootout on home ice in Kosice.
All in all, history favored Slovakia, which had won seven of the nine games between the two nations.
That showed on the ice early on. Slovakia was the team that took the initiative and carried the play, while Denmark sat back and waited for its chances.
Before the first period was halfway through, Slovakia got its first power-play opportunity. The Pospisil brothers, Frantisek and Martin, along with Okuliar, created several great chances before getting the puck to Martin Chromiak on the left faceoff dot. He didn’t hesitate and beat Mads Sogaard with a quick wrister to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead at 9:28.
“Getting the first goal would give us a boost. I think we’ve only scored two goals five-on-five in this tournament,” said Denmark’s Nick Olesen.
Denmark was forced to make a goalie change during the first intermission. While Sogaard played through the first period after going down in a collision with Frantisek Pospisil, it was Nikolaj Henriksen who stood in the crease at the start of the second period.
Before Henriksen had made a save, he had to fish the puck out of the net. Okuliar came flying down the right wing and flipped a neat saucer backhand pass to Adam Liska, who one-timed it top shelf from the doorstep to double Slovakia’s lead to 2-0 just 56 seconds into the second period. Marek Hrivik picked up an assist on the goal.
Five and a half minutes later, the trio was at it again. This time, Liska and Hrivik set it up, and Okuliar finished from the slot for his second goal and third point of the game at 6:44.
The first half of the second period was complete Slovak domination, and in the first ten minutes, the Slovaks outshot Denmark 11-1. A Slovakia penalty turned the heat down a bit, allowing Denmark to settle down.
Denmark saw a glimmer of hope early in the third period when Mikkel Aagaard deked a Slovak defenseman at the offensive blue line, took a few strides, and fired a wrister that beat Hlavaj on the glove side 1:43 into the period.
The hope was extinguished two minutes and eight seconds later when Martin Pospisil scored his first goal of the tournament off a rebound.
With 6:55 remaining, Sebastian Cederle sealed the final score at 5-1. A turnover on the Danish blue line opened the door for Chromiak, who patiently waited for Cederle to arrive in the slot so he could one-time Chromiak’s pass into the back of the net.
Slovakia will now have a day off before their big game against Czechia on Saturday, followed by Canada on Sunday. Denmark will also have important back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday against Slovenia and Italy, respectively.
“We have some things to work on, we need to watch some video. We play the same way we did last year, something is wrong right now and we need to figure it out,” Olesen said.
Slovakia left nothing to chance. They controlled the game from beginning to end, outshooting Denmark 44-14. Most importantly, they won the game 5-1.
“We played a good game. Everybody did his job, and have a hundred percent, maybe more,” said Patrik Koch.
And they had Oliver Okuliar. The 25-year-old from Trencin—who will turn 26 on Sunday—scored twice and added an assist.
Slovakia was riding a three-game winning streak against Denmark, dating back to May 2019, when they beat the Danes in a penalty shootout on home ice in Kosice.
All in all, history favored Slovakia, which had won seven of the nine games between the two nations.
That showed on the ice early on. Slovakia was the team that took the initiative and carried the play, while Denmark sat back and waited for its chances.
Before the first period was halfway through, Slovakia got its first power-play opportunity. The Pospisil brothers, Frantisek and Martin, along with Okuliar, created several great chances before getting the puck to Martin Chromiak on the left faceoff dot. He didn’t hesitate and beat Mads Sogaard with a quick wrister to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead at 9:28.
“Getting the first goal would give us a boost. I think we’ve only scored two goals five-on-five in this tournament,” said Denmark’s Nick Olesen.
Denmark was forced to make a goalie change during the first intermission. While Sogaard played through the first period after going down in a collision with Frantisek Pospisil, it was Nikolaj Henriksen who stood in the crease at the start of the second period.
Before Henriksen had made a save, he had to fish the puck out of the net. Okuliar came flying down the right wing and flipped a neat saucer backhand pass to Adam Liska, who one-timed it top shelf from the doorstep to double Slovakia’s lead to 2-0 just 56 seconds into the second period. Marek Hrivik picked up an assist on the goal.
Five and a half minutes later, the trio was at it again. This time, Liska and Hrivik set it up, and Okuliar finished from the slot for his second goal and third point of the game at 6:44.
The first half of the second period was complete Slovak domination, and in the first ten minutes, the Slovaks outshot Denmark 11-1. A Slovakia penalty turned the heat down a bit, allowing Denmark to settle down.
Denmark saw a glimmer of hope early in the third period when Mikkel Aagaard deked a Slovak defenseman at the offensive blue line, took a few strides, and fired a wrister that beat Hlavaj on the glove side 1:43 into the period.
The hope was extinguished two minutes and eight seconds later when Martin Pospisil scored his first goal of the tournament off a rebound.
With 6:55 remaining, Sebastian Cederle sealed the final score at 5-1. A turnover on the Danish blue line opened the door for Chromiak, who patiently waited for Cederle to arrive in the slot so he could one-time Chromiak’s pass into the back of the net.
Slovakia will now have a day off before their big game against Czechia on Saturday, followed by Canada on Sunday. Denmark will also have important back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday against Slovenia and Italy, respectively.
“We have some things to work on, we need to watch some video. We play the same way we did last year, something is wrong right now and we need to figure it out,” Olesen said.
Denmark vs Slovakia - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
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