On Friday, Dec. 27, teams Switzerland and Slovakia were looking to get into the win column in their second games of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship that is being held in Ottawa, ON. On Thursday, Dec. 26, Switzerland lost 5-1 to Czechia while Slovakia lost 5-2 to Sweden. As both teams looked to find a way to stay in the hunt to advance to the knockout rounds, which one came out on top?
Game Recap
After a chaotic back and forth that saw Team Switzerland miss out on their power play opportunity, Slovakia capitalized on the extended offensive zone possession with Daniel Jencko breaking the ice with less than two minutes left in the first period. He was able to deflect a shot that was sent towards the net from the blue line by Luka Radivojevic. There was nothing that Switzerland’s netminder Christian Kirsch, who is committed to UMass for 2025-26, could do after putting up over 18 minutes of solid play. In the other net, Slovakia’s Samuel Urban put up a valiant effort in the first period to give the home team a 1-0 lead after one period.
Related: Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship
As the second period carried on, Switzerland was putting chance after chance on Urban who was standing tall for Slovakia. After killing off a tripping penalty, the visitors were finally able to tie the game up. Eric Schneller came out of the penalty box and received a stretch pass from Jamiro Reber who sprung him on a breakaway. He was able to stretch out Urban and backhanded the puck over his right leg pad and into the net. The game was 1-1 after that huge moment by Switzerland who were dominating the middle frame. They led in shots on goal 22-18.
The third period saw a more balanced 20 minutes from both sides. There was only one penalty in the period, which was called on Switzerland for roughing. However, nothing came of it with under 10 minutes left in the game. As the period wound down, we had a chance to see some extra hockey with overtime as neither side could figure out Urban or Kirsch. With under four minutes left, the Slovakian team was able to capitalize on a bad clearance by Switzerland who turned it over between the circles in the slot. It was Jan Chovan of Slovakia who was able to corral the puck and fire it past Kirsch to give the home side a very late lead in the third period.
With under 30 seconds left, Switzerland had a barrage of chances to tie it up again, but Urban stood tall and secured Slovakia’s first win of the 2025 World Juniors with a 2-1 victory.
Huge Sunday Coming Up
Switzerland’s (0-0-0-2) next game will be on Sunday, Dec. 29 against Sweden at noon Eastern. Regarding Slovakia (1-0-0-1), their next game will also be on Dec. 29 against Czechia at 5 p.m. Eastern. Both will be their third games of the IIHF World Juniors and will be held at TD Place.
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