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Slovak national hockey team Photo: IIHF
The Slovak men’s hockey team won France in the first match of the World Cup in Helsinki on Friday. The Slovak won the bronze medal of the Olympic Games with the result 4: 2 (1: 0, 2: 2, 1: 0).
In the middle of the first period, Slovakia was nominated by Pavol Regenda, who scored in front of the goal with the awkward side of the stick, but in the second minute of the second third, Tomas Tatars threw the rebound into the goal with a strong shot and reached 2: 0. In the seventh minute of the third, Antoni Rešs made a shot from the middle of the zone after the winning throw and reached 1: 2, but six minutes later the match over the whole field was completed by Jordan Peré – 2: 2. Even before the third period, the Slovaks were in the lead, as two minutes before the end of the third, Samuel Takac moved the puck over the opponent’s goalkeeper towards the goal. Eight seconds before the end of the regular time, Regenda threw the puck into the empty gate and set the final score 4: 2. Germany and Canada will leave the square at 8.20 pm Switzerland, Denmark, Kazakhstan and Italy will also fight in subgroup A.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) suspended all Russian and Belarusian teams and clubs from competitions organized by the IIHF. Russia and Belarus will be replaced by France and Austria, which ranked the highest selection of countries not expected to play in the top division.
The 16 teams participating in the tournament are divided into two groups, eight units each, which guarantees seven games for each team in the subgroup competition. After one round of group matches, the four best teams in each subgroup will continue to fight for medals in the quarterfinals, while the weakest teams in the tournament will leave the strongest division last year, with Slovenia and Hungary in the top 16 next year.
The 2022 World Championships in Finland will take place from 13 to 29 May.
