today 1.40pm
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The first opponent of the Slovak national team at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada will be hockey players from Finland.
Finland’s players operate in the adult Liiga
In recent years, the Finns are known for their excellent hockey work and successes not only in the senior, but also in the youth categories. The previous four junior championships had no shortage of top four, when they successively took first, fourth, third and second place. Now they would like to continue the sequence of the other three editions and get to the top. Although they have a younger selection, most of its members are already active in adult hockey in the national Liiga teams and together they have almost a thousand games.
16-year-old defenseman Aron Kiriharju, who is one of the candidates for the top ranks of the 2024 NHL draft and will be the youngest player in the entire tournament, also got a look at some duels. One of the biggest supports should be a member of the All-Star team and the previous league’s most productive Finnish hockey player, forward Joakim Kemell. The Finns completed two preparatory meetings in which they were not enough against the favorites USA 2:5 and Canada 3:5. However, they entered the World Cup yesterday with a surprising 2:3 defeat against the Swiss after extra time.
Slovaks with several talented players
The Slovaks finished second to bottom 9th at the WC in August and would now like to improve their taste. Coach Ivan Feneš doesn’t have a bad selection at his disposal, because there are several quality players. Up to eleven team members work in competitions abroad, a large number by Slovakian standards. The biggest supporters are expected to be this year’s NHL draft number two and Olympic Games bronze medalist defender Šimon Nemec, forwards Filip Mešár, Servác Petrovský and Samuel Honzek.
The aforementioned offensive trio is doing very well in Canadian youth competitions, and AIK Stockholm forward Dalibor Dvorský is aiming for a spot in the top ten of the upcoming NHL draft. Also up front is Nitra’s Adam Sýkora, who has already participated in the senior WC. After two defeats in the preliminary games against Germany 0:5 (they started without several supports and struggled in the end) and super favorites Canada 1:6, they recovered with a 5:1 triumph over Austria.
WHAT WE RECOMMEND BETTING
Finland – Slovakia 1
Handicaps (0:1.5) 1
Number of goals more than 5.5
Competing with Finland, the United States, Switzerland and Latvia, the Slovaks have excellent prospects of advancing to the quarter-finals, which is their main goal. While they may surprise at the tournament, we think the expert selection of the Finns, who also need to correct initial hesitation, will be beyond their strength at the start. We expect a more offensive duel, when both sides have quality, especially in attack.
