Finland shot 40 times more than Slovakia in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Slovakia won 3–2 and eliminated Finland from the continuation.
The Finnish under-18 boys’ national ice hockey team’s performance at the age group World Championships in Switzerland went against expectations even before the medal games, when Slovakia, who entered the game as the underdog, beat the favorites in the World Cup quarter-finals played in Porrentruy on Thursday 3–2.
Slovakia led the match 3–0 after two sets. Suomi wrote in the final set Kasper Halttunen by hitting 1-3, and Emil Järventie brought the Little Lions to the end of the goal ten seconds before the final buzzer. However, there was not enough time until the equalizer and extra time.
The great promise of Slovakia, playing in the Swedish club AIK Dalibor Dvorsky gave his team the lead in the opening set after just 36 seconds of play. In the second set, the Finnish goalkeeper Eemil Vinnin passed by Patrik Masnica and Adam Cedzo.
Dvorsky scored 1+2, but an even bigger hero was found in Slovakia’s goal. Samuel Urban recorded a whopping 54 saves, half of them i.e. 27 in the final set as Finland milled the puck with continuous passes to Slovakia’s goal. Vinni had 13 saves, which means that Finland took the shots on goal by as many as 56–16.
– The disappointment is huge. The team’s look was good, the team played well, we controlled the game and created enough good enough scoring opportunities. But there were just no goals now. Luck was not on our side. And yes, the opponent’s goalkeeper played a great game, the head coach of the Little Lions Lauri Merikivi stated.
Amidst the disappointment, the coach thanked his team, with whom he has worked hard.
– It’s been a great journey with these players these three years, and the others who weren’t there (at the World Cup). The growth from little boys to young men and towards professionalism, it’s been really great. Hats off to everyone for how they committed to this and how this team worked, Merikivi concluded.