Menu Close
More Close
Games

5th July 2024 - Derek OBrien

Quick start sparks Canada U18 over Slovakia

In an important game in the U18 tournament, Canada beat Slovakia 5-3 thanks to a quick start. In the fifth minute, Lovett opened the scoring and, less than a minute later, Andy Knight increased the lead to two. Despite some chances, the Slovaks were unable to score before the end of the first period. Urged on by their supportive fans, the Slovaks came out hard in the second but were still unable to score. Then Kyle Tucker made it 3-0 in the 18th minute and Jack Barrington added Canada's fourth goal in the 27th minute to make it 4-0. That was too much for Slovakian goalkeeper František Sebestyén, who was replaced by Ján Chmelík. The Slovaks finally broke through in the 39th minute when Maxim Piško snuffed out a glimmer of hope for Slovakia on the power play, and then Markus Saxa in the 42nd minute made it 4-2. An empty-net goal by Noble and a strike by Imrich in the dying seconds made the final score 5-3.

Niké Arena 1

3-5
(0:2, 0:2, 3:1)

Slovakia U18 - Canada U18

Penalties
2:3
PPG
1:0
SHG
0:0
Shots on goal
28:25

Goals and assists

39. Piško (Pavlák, Saxa), 42. Saxa (Semančík), 45. Imrich - 5. Lovett (Mackie, Hamelin), 6. Knight (Burke), 18. Tucker (Osborne, Markus), 27. Barrington (Lovett), 44. Noble (Lovett, Schierau)

Referees

Vojtěch Filipiec, Thomas Walkeden

Official game sheet

Slovakia U18

Sebestyén (27. Chmelík) - Rexa, Semančík (A), Baník, Hanák, Rokos, Mada, Lukáčik, Hanus, Feranec (C) - Lašš, Švec, Piško, Franek, Džadžovský, Štefaňák, Saxa, Daubner, Jakubík, Imrich, Kašša, Pavlák, Kaššai

Canada U18

Kailay - Campbell, Osborne (A), Scott, Greene, Burke, Putos, Tucker, Barrington - Mackie, Bulmer, Markus, Hamelin, Noble, Schierau (C), Tarling, Knight (A), Brankovic, Hopcraft, Pacik, Lovett

COACHES´ REACTIONS

Ľubomír Líška (SVK): "We didn't have a good start to the match, not in any of the tough games in the tournament. After our first goal, we got into the game, and Canada started to defend more and maybe even worried about the result. We believed until the last moment that we could turn it around, but coming back from 0-4 against Canada is very difficult. However, we weren't far off, as we hit the post and had other chances. The championships aren't over; the chance for the final is minimal, but we definitely want to fight for a medal for Slovakia."

Joe Silcox (CAN): "We spent the afternoon after the Swiss game going through some footage on how the Slovak team had been playing. They’re a tough opponent, I’ve always had nothing but respect for the Slovak program. We executed our gameplan very well for about two and a half periods, but we didn’t expect the Slovaks to push us back this hard. A quick shout-out to Zilina and Slovakia for hosting this tournament, it’s been awesome. We wish the Slovaks best of luck for the rest of the way. We have an important game tomorrow against the US, and winning is obviously the primary goal. Now we just want to get some food into these guys, rest up, and then go through some footage on the US. It’s a continental matchup, it’s always been an emotional game. We’ll put our best effort into the game just like we did today against Slovakia, and may the best team win."

Photogallery