Selvac Petrovski added two goals and an assist as Slovakia defeated the Czech Republic 6-2 to open the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.
This was the Slovakia national team’s victory over the Czech Republic with the most goals and the largest margin of victory in the history of the World Juniors.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, especially against the Czech Republic,” Petrovsky said. “It’s a great first win for us.”
With the silver medal in Halifax in 2023, the Czech Republic broke its medal drought for the first time since bronze in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 2005. But after this humble debut, they have a lot of work to do.
“I don’t know what happened,” three-time world junior blueliner Tomas Hamara said. “We gave them the goals they scored. When they scored, it was pretty tough.” [four] goal of [third] period. It’s hard to go back. We made some not-so-good mistakes that we shouldn’t have made. ”
It was a traditional Boxing Day match between sibling rivals in Florndaborg, but the Slovak’s combination of resilience, skill and special teams savvy won the day. Coach Ivan Fenesz’s team killed five minors and used the man advantage twice.
Slovakia starter Adam Gajan, who surprisingly won the Goaltender of the Year award last year, made 27 saves.
The Slovakian’s last medal was bronze in Montreal in 2015. In 2023, they suffered a dramatic 4-3 overtime loss to host country Canada in the quarterfinals, but finished in 6th place.
Just 1:01 into the game, Dominik Raimon gave the Czechs an early lead with a brilliant backdoor redirection of a feed from Ondrej Becher’s rush.
The Slovaks increased the tempo after killing two minors. Late in the first period, tall Czech goaltender Michal Hrabal stopped Dalibor Dvorski, this year’s No. 10 overall pick of the St. Louis Blues, right in front of him.
“We said something in the locker room after the first period,” Petrovsky said. “We knew it wasn’t our best time. We just needed to play simple, make shots and move the puck faster. We did that in the second period and we got a lot better.”
In the second period, Czech Republic, coached by Patrick Augusta, suffered from penalty trouble, and Slovakia took control. Petrovski, making his third World Junior appearance, made it 1-1 with a lightning one-timer at 2:00 on Slovakia’s second power play. The 19-year-old forward has increased his points-per-game pace this year with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack.
Peter Lepsik put a shot on target with 1:26 left, handcuffing Hrabal on the short side and giving Slovakia a 2-1 lead. Seconds later, 17-year-old Czech defensive star Adam Jilicek was rescued from a tangle with Juraj Pekarczyk in a corner. Jilicek, the younger brother of David Jilicek (best defender of 2023), returned in the third period but had to be sent off again shortly after.
Slovakia’s Samuel Honzek tucked in the puck on a power play at 1:22, and Boris Zabka surprised Hrabal with a long shot at 4:15 to make it 4-1 shorthanded. Petrovsky set up assistant captain Philippe Messard just 1 minute and 8 seconds later, putting the game within reach.
Hrabal stopped Repcik’s five-hole attempt with a penalty shot midway through the third hole. Czech Mattias Sapovarivov cut the deficit to 5-2 at 11:55, but Maxim Štovak restored Slovakia’s four-goal lead 30 seconds later.
The last time the Czech Republic lost to Slovakia was in the quarterfinals in 2015, 3-0. Slovakia’s overall record against its neighbors improved to five wins, one draw and 12 losses.
On Wednesday, Slovakia will play Switzerland and the Czech Republic will play Norway. Looking forward to the latter matchup, Hamara said: “We didn’t compete enough. We need to compete. Tomorrow we’ll be ready from the start. This is a good wake-up call for us. ” he said.
