Like a conquering hero, Milos Roman scored twice to lift Slovakia to a 5-1 win over Denmark on Sunday and a 2018 World Junior quarter-final berth in Buffalo.
Finishing fourth in Group A, the Slovaks will battle the first-place Group B on 2 January. It would have been tragic to squander this opportunity in their round-robin finale after hitting an emotional high with the 3-2 upset over the defending champion United States.
Team scoring leader Samuel Bucek and Martin Fehervary added a goal and an assist apiece for Slovakia, and Adam Liska also tallied. Joachim Blichfeld replied for Denmark.
The Slovaks have finished between sixth and eighth at every World Junior Championship in the 2010's – except for 2015, when MVP goalie Denis Godla backstopped them to a surprising bronze in Montreal. And that’s the blueprint they’d like to emulate or improve on.
Slovak goalie Roman Durny won his HarborCenter duel with his Danish counterpart Kasper Krog as shots favored Slovakia 40-31.
Meanwhile, the winless Danes will miss the quarter-finals for the first time since returning to the elite division in 2015. It’s a tough pill to swallow.
Objectively, it’s unsurprising after Denmark was outscored 26-2 in the preliminary round. Coach Olaf Eller's boys just couldn’t find the special spark that delivered upsets over the Finns and Czechs last year. They will face Belarus in the best-of-three relegation series starting 2 January. Surely the Danes will be determined to succeed with Copenhagen and Herning hosting the IIHF World Championship next year for the very first time.
Once upon a time, a game between teams like Slovakia and Denmark would have had almost no bodychecking. It was treated like something that was regretfully obligatory when facing a North American opponent. But European hockey has evolved, and both teams came out throwing their weight around with wonderful teenage desperation.
At 4:46, Blichfeld opened the scoring off the rush, backhanding in the rebound from Nikolaj Krag’s shot. The Slovaks argued that the play was offside, but the goal stood.
At 11:42, Roman skated into the Danish zone, took a pass from Alex Tamasi and hammered a slapper through Krog from the top of the left faceoff circle to make it 1-1. For the Trinec-trained forward who plays for the Vancouver Giants in the 2019 co-host city of the World Juniors with Victoria, it was his first goal of the tournament.
Now the Slovaks began firing away. Krog was fortunate to stop Erik Smolka, who put the puck off the Danish netminder’s right pad with a half-open net to shoot at. Marian Studenic also had him fooled with a rising backhander off the iron.
Early in the second period, the Danes picked up the pace, with Blichfeld and Krag keying the charge to the Slovak crease. However, the tide shifted again after Denmark’s Rasmus Heine took a holding penalty, even though the Slovaks didn’t capitalize with that man advantage.
Just before the midway point, Fehervary stepped in on the left side and made it 2-1 with a short-side goal past a screened Krog. Next, Durny made one big save after another during a Marian Studenic minor for slashing.
Slovakia took its second penalty of the game for too many men on the ice, and usually that indicates a team isn’t quite mentally prepared. But instead, the Slovaks turned it to their advantage.
With 5:22 left in the middle frame, a relentless shorthanded forecheck paid dividends when Roman grabbed the puck behind the net, cut out front and scored his second goal for a 3-1 lead.
At 4:06 of the third, Bucek put the game out of reach with a short-side marker after a draw in the Danish end. Just 1:16 later, Liska finished off a rush to make it 5-1. The Danes called their time-out, but this train had already left the station.
In a strange sight, Danish captain Christian Mathias-Wesje left two Slovaks prone in the Danish end with big hits with under two minutes to go. Smolka left the game early for repairs. The teams finished 4-on-4 after some rough stuff.
Slovakia won its only previous World Junior game against Denmark, 4-3 on 30 December, 2007 in Pardubice, Czech Republic.
As both the Slovaks and the NFL's Buffalo Bills made the playoffs, it was a happy night at the HarborCenter -- unless you happened to be Danish, of course.
LUCAS AYKROYD
Finishing fourth in Group A, the Slovaks will battle the first-place Group B on 2 January. It would have been tragic to squander this opportunity in their round-robin finale after hitting an emotional high with the 3-2 upset over the defending champion United States.
Team scoring leader Samuel Bucek and Martin Fehervary added a goal and an assist apiece for Slovakia, and Adam Liska also tallied. Joachim Blichfeld replied for Denmark.
The Slovaks have finished between sixth and eighth at every World Junior Championship in the 2010's – except for 2015, when MVP goalie Denis Godla backstopped them to a surprising bronze in Montreal. And that’s the blueprint they’d like to emulate or improve on.
Slovak goalie Roman Durny won his HarborCenter duel with his Danish counterpart Kasper Krog as shots favored Slovakia 40-31.
Meanwhile, the winless Danes will miss the quarter-finals for the first time since returning to the elite division in 2015. It’s a tough pill to swallow.
Objectively, it’s unsurprising after Denmark was outscored 26-2 in the preliminary round. Coach Olaf Eller's boys just couldn’t find the special spark that delivered upsets over the Finns and Czechs last year. They will face Belarus in the best-of-three relegation series starting 2 January. Surely the Danes will be determined to succeed with Copenhagen and Herning hosting the IIHF World Championship next year for the very first time.
Once upon a time, a game between teams like Slovakia and Denmark would have had almost no bodychecking. It was treated like something that was regretfully obligatory when facing a North American opponent. But European hockey has evolved, and both teams came out throwing their weight around with wonderful teenage desperation.
At 4:46, Blichfeld opened the scoring off the rush, backhanding in the rebound from Nikolaj Krag’s shot. The Slovaks argued that the play was offside, but the goal stood.
At 11:42, Roman skated into the Danish zone, took a pass from Alex Tamasi and hammered a slapper through Krog from the top of the left faceoff circle to make it 1-1. For the Trinec-trained forward who plays for the Vancouver Giants in the 2019 co-host city of the World Juniors with Victoria, it was his first goal of the tournament.
Now the Slovaks began firing away. Krog was fortunate to stop Erik Smolka, who put the puck off the Danish netminder’s right pad with a half-open net to shoot at. Marian Studenic also had him fooled with a rising backhander off the iron.
Early in the second period, the Danes picked up the pace, with Blichfeld and Krag keying the charge to the Slovak crease. However, the tide shifted again after Denmark’s Rasmus Heine took a holding penalty, even though the Slovaks didn’t capitalize with that man advantage.
Just before the midway point, Fehervary stepped in on the left side and made it 2-1 with a short-side goal past a screened Krog. Next, Durny made one big save after another during a Marian Studenic minor for slashing.
Slovakia took its second penalty of the game for too many men on the ice, and usually that indicates a team isn’t quite mentally prepared. But instead, the Slovaks turned it to their advantage.
With 5:22 left in the middle frame, a relentless shorthanded forecheck paid dividends when Roman grabbed the puck behind the net, cut out front and scored his second goal for a 3-1 lead.
At 4:06 of the third, Bucek put the game out of reach with a short-side marker after a draw in the Danish end. Just 1:16 later, Liska finished off a rush to make it 5-1. The Danes called their time-out, but this train had already left the station.
In a strange sight, Danish captain Christian Mathias-Wesje left two Slovaks prone in the Danish end with big hits with under two minutes to go. Smolka left the game early for repairs. The teams finished 4-on-4 after some rough stuff.
Slovakia won its only previous World Junior game against Denmark, 4-3 on 30 December, 2007 in Pardubice, Czech Republic.
As both the Slovaks and the NFL's Buffalo Bills made the playoffs, it was a happy night at the HarborCenter -- unless you happened to be Danish, of course.
LUCAS AYKROYD