The Slovaks exploded again! They had 8 shots against the Finns, a real match awaits them | Hokej.cz

Slovakia’s performance at the U-18 championship in Finland has been a big disappointment so far. Our eastern neighbors also lost the third match in the group, when they got four goals from the Finns already in the first period and they had only twice as many shots for the entire duel…

0:9 with the United States, 3:5 with Latvia and now 0:4 with Finland. Each Slovakian defeat in the course of the tournament so far has brought a slightly different kind of bitterness, in any case, it is evident that this year’s team definitely does not reach the quality of last year’s.

The players of coach Martin Dendis experienced a bit of the Czech fate from the battle with Canada. They lost the first period 0:4 after goals from Hemming, Ruohonen, Pikkarainen and Saarelainen, they were penalized twice for bad discipline and almost had nothing to play for.

Perhaps they should have if they had used a five-minute power play at the start of the second half after Ruohonen’s foul.

However, their shooting activity deteriorated as the match progressed, if that word can even be used… In the first period, they threatened the Finnish goal five times, in the second period three times, and in the entire third period they did not score a single shot!

Suomi’s youngsters maintained a 4-0 lead until the end, so it is still true that they conceded only one goal in the home championship. On Tuesday, they will compete with the Americans for the first place in Group A, the Slovaks have the exact opposite worries: If they want to advance to the quarterfinals and not play for salvation, they have to beat the Norwegians.

After all, they should be able to handle that.

Group A result:

SLOVAKIA – FINLAND 0:4 (0:4, 0:0, 0:0)

Goals and saves: 7. Hemming (Helenius, Saarelainen), 8. Ruohonen (Suoniemi, Jokinen), 18. Pikkarainen (Suoniemi, Väisänen), 20. Saarelainen (Helenius).
Referee: Ruprecht (Switzerland), Lindner–Kingon (both USA), Aknerts Jerne (Denmark).
Exclusion: 7:3, plus Ruohonen (Finland) 5 minutes to the end of the game.
Use: 0:2.
Shots on goal: 8:41 (5:16, 3:11, 0:14).
Spectators: 5500.
The best players: Luka Radivojevic – Konsta Helenius.
Slovakia: Haronik – Radivojevič, Fabuš, Húževka, Beluško, Ličko, Kupec, Zubek, Kalman – Tomík, Pobežal, Straka – Chrenko, Pitka, Nemec – Chovan, Satan, Svrček – Liščinski, Vrtiel, Maruna. Coach: Dandy.
Finland: Rimpinen – Väisänen, Kiviharju, Nykyri, Jokinen, Nieminen, Amhamdi, Mononen – Hemming, Helenius, Saarelainen – Sinivuori, Ruohonen, Suoniemi – Pikkarainen, Koivu, Vesterinen – Teshome, Kettunen, Väärälä – Loponen. Coach: Kauppinen.

Another program of the WC under 18 years 2024

Sunday, April 28:
14:00 Sweden – Czech Republic (sk. B; CT sport)
17:00 USA – Latvia (group A)
18:00 Canada – Switzerland (group B)

Monday April 29:
2:00 p.m. Czech Republic – Kazakhstan (score B; CT sport)
16:30 Latvia – Norway (group A)

Tuesday, April 30:
13:00 Norway – Slovakia (group A)
14:00 Switzerland – Sweden (group B)
17:00 Finland – USA (group A)
18:00 Kazakhstan – Canada (group B)

Thursday, May 2:
10:00 a.m. Retention match (Vantaa)
11:00 1st quarter-final (Espoo)
13:45 2nd quarter-final (Vantaa)
16:00 3rd quarter-final (Espoo)
18:45 4th quarter-final (Vantaa)

Saturday, May 4:
13:00 1st semi-final (Espoo)
17:00 2nd semi-final (Espoo)

Sunday May 5:
13:00 match for 3rd place (Espoo)
17:00 final (Espoo)

The beginnings are given in Czech times, in Finland it is an hour later.

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