Slovakian under-18 hockey players advanced to the finals of the domestic WC. In the semi-final they defeated Latvia 1:0 and on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. they are fighting for their first title in this age category against the winner of the second semi-final between Sweden and the Czech Republic.
In Friday’s match in Trenčín, it was scoreless for a long time, until at the end of the second period Michal Jakubec overcame the defense of Latvians. After all, it was the only goal of the meeting. Slovaks have so far two valuable metals from the WC under 18 years. They won silver in 2003, and won bronze at the 1999 WC. In 2023, 2024 and 2025, they never managed to fight for bronze, they always finished fourth.
WC in hockey under 18 years – semi-finals:
The Slovaks started more actively, but did not create a goal chance for a long time. It wasn’t until the middle of the first period that Kazda found himself in it, but only Pluminša hit. The Latvians had good movement and were solid defensively, but they did not spend much time in front of Hrenák. In this phase of the match, the Slovaks outshot the opponent 7:5, but they were not effective.
At the beginning of the second period, the Slovaks pushed the Latvians, they had a long passage during which they pinned the opponent, but neither Floriš nor Matta got the puck into the net. On the opposite side, Murnieks threatened, but Hrenák was also on the spot. Not long after, the Slovak youngsters played the first power play, pushed the opponent again and sent several shots at the goal, but again without effect. Matta then tried it individually, weaving his way through several players, but even he didn’t have the exact finish. However, in the final seconds of the second twenty-minute period, Lotyšov Jakubec broke the spell – 1:0. A few seconds after the goal, a fight broke out between Potoček and Erdmanis-Hermanis, both of them collected penalties until the end of the match.
In the third period, the Latvians also played their first power play, but they could have cashed in when Floriš and Karšay got to the break. However, the second one of them did not come to an end. In the end, the Latvians pushed, they tried to equalize even in a game without a goalkeeper, but the Slovaks resisted and did not let the progress slip away.
