The Slovak team entered the match more than promisingly. Right in the opening seconds, Hrivík made his way to the end, sending a puck close up next to the goal with a backhand. On the other hand, Pakarinen’s run on the goal construction ended. But the Slovaks took the lead. After the untapped opportunity of Rosandič, Roman’s action came, which Slafkovský completed with a close shot, after he managed to beat goalkeeper Säteri from the edge of the goal area.
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The Finns started slowly, but they were all the more effective and dangerous in the second half of the opening act. After 11 minutes, after a quick pass, he got into a solo against goalkeeper Konrád Manninen and opened his shooting account. This was followed by a numerical advantage of the Northerners, in which Lehtonen fired the right stick, but in the same power play Pesonen prevailed after a beautiful combination.
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Slovak hockey players in their first match against FinlandPhoto: Annegret Regards, Reuters
At the beginning of the 17th minute, the Slovaks had 113 seconds of a five-on-three power play, but they couldn’t think much and the opponent defended himself without much difficulty. On the contrary, 18 seconds after the Finns were again at five, Aaltonen completed the turn after renumbering two to one. Of the six shots between the sticks in the first period, the Finns scored three goals.
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In the second part, Aaltonen missed first. He then fired dangerously in a power play Pospíšil, but moved to Manninen again, who in the 30th minute matured again in a duel face to face on the support of the extra-league team Olomouc Konrád. Slafkovský returned the Slovaks back within range, when he skated from the back fence into the ring and hit exactly on the back post.
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However, Čerešňák made a mistake right at the beginning of the third period and after 16 seconds he completed Manninen’s hat-trick. The Slovaks’ hopes for a turnaround took hold. All the more so when they did not use two powerlifters in a short sequence. The Finns, on the other hand, did very well in numerical advantage and Aaltonen sealed their win in the ending 55 minutes. Vatanen then hit the stick.
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