Slovakia suffered a 5-2 defeat to Sweden in the 2025 World Junior Championship opening matchup. Last year, they won the opening matchup against Czechia 6-2; however, they could not repeat the result against Sweden this year.
A Good First Period for Slovakia
The Slovaks were not too bad in the first period, as they looked sound offensively, drawing penalties and later earning a goal from St. Louis Blues prospect Dalibor Dvorsky. While Sweden had the most shots in the first period, with a total shot count of 9-5, Slovakia was doing pretty good defensively as well, holding their lead of 1-0.
Slovak goaltender Samuel Urban, playing in his final year of eligibility, endured the Swedish onslaught in the first period, stopping all nine of Sweden’s shots. He made a nice cover-up to prevent the puck from crossing the line with his leg, which almost gave Sweden the tying goal earlier. However, the referees declared it no goal.
Related: Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship
This year’s Slovakia team lost its NHL talent from the previous two WJC tournaments, but despite that, they gave their all in the first and showed tremendous defensive resilience against the 2024 WJC finalists.
Slovakia Did Not Have Enough Talent
Having your top stars contribute is essential, and once again, Slovakia was limited from that in this tournament with very few NHL prospects. The only few players from last year’s WJC playing in this one were Dvorsky, Maxim Strbak (Buffalo Sabres), and Juraj Pekarcik (Blues). In addition to Dvorsky scoring the opening goal, Strbak showed up offensively in the game as expected before this tournament, earning two points (two assists) on both of Slovakia’s two goals.
One of the top Slovak forwards in this tournament, Miroslav Satan Jr. (Washington Capitals), did not produce offensively but was a driving force defensively for the opening period of the matchup; however, with no other defensive structure around him, it played a big part in Slovakia’s ability to stay composed.
Some players, such as Pekarcik, Jakub Chromiak, and Daniel Jencko, earned a point and were very good on the power play. With all that said, it was not enough to keep up with top Swedish players Axel Sandin Pellikka, Otto Stenberg, David Edstrom, and many more skillful players in Sweden.
A Big Collapse After the First Period
The second and third periods were a total disaster for Slovakia, getting beat up in shots 13-3 in the second and 11-8 in the third. All the players on their roster looked flat after pushing through an intense first period, and it most likely had to do with the fact that they had no offensive or defensive depth to complement their top players in each part of their roster, as Sweden does.
Slovakia took a penalty in the second and allowed a goal in it, which gave the Swedes the lead at 2-1, and from there, it only got worse in the third, giving up three more goals. Earning the penalty in the second added insult to injury and winded them even more, especially with Sweden not taking any penalties; they had a lot more energy, and Slovakia suffered more.
In the third, Slovakia had a good opportunity to make somewhat of a comeback as Sweden took three penalties, but Slovakia only scored once on the power play. There just wasn’t enough firepower from Slovakia on the power play to at least get the game up to 5-4, and the only goal they scored out of their three power plays came late in the third with almost two minutes left. Slovakia will need to improve in their next game on special teams if they want to dominate in this tournament.
What’s Next for Slovakia?
Slovakia will play their next game against rivals Czechia on Sunday (Dec. 29) for a chance to win their first game of the tournament and improve on some things that went wrong in their game against Sweden.
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