Slovaks win the tournament opener against Slovenia

Although there were already two games played from the WC game-schedule, the evening game of the home team was the officially the championship’s opening game. After the opening ceremony the first period took place in Ondrej Nepela Ice Rink in Bratislava.

It brought a very fast game with the smallest possible amount of game interruptions, but also with a small amount of goal chances. The best chances  were the situations from the third and the fifth minute of play; the Slovak team got both of them.

In the first situation Šatan had a hard shot during the first Slovakia power play from the left circle, the second was Marián Gáborík’s breakaway that Gáborík finished with a forehand deke and shot from the left wing. Slovenian goalie Kristan caught both of them as well as all other Slovak shots in the first period.

But the biggest chance of Slovakia was that one what finally didn’t occur: Demitra had a chance to pass the puck to Surový during the fifth minute but he didn’t and non-guarded Surový didn’t receive the goal chance.

Slovenia was also trying to attack during the first, but the Slovenians were attacking really carefully with maximally one or two forwards, at least three players were staying back all the time. "We cannot attack with three guys in the front. The Slovaks are very strong and they can use every opponent’s fault and we cannot offer any over-counting or breakaway to them," Slovenian forward Pajič told after the first period.
Pajič was talking about the Slovenian wish to surprise the Slovaks and they surprised their rival in the second period. The first power play of the away team ended with a goal three seconds before Štrbák’s penalty ended. Kranjc took the puck in the defensive zone and skated into the offensive part of the ice rink between two Slovak defenders and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle after a forehand deke on Halák.
The Slovaks started playing more physically immediately after the allowed goal; the Slovenians were more aggressive and tried to attack more often. This picture of play remained until a series of many penalties on both sides that vyvrcholilo by Slovakia 4 minutes-long power play because of Jeglic 2+2 penalty for high-sticking.

The Slovaks weren’t able to prepare anything really dangerous and the away team had no worries to  defend during the long shorthanded time. The home team and home fans started to be nervous after this power play ending and they all were saved in the 36th minute: After a series of Slovakia chances Šatan received a great pass from behind the net from Surový and scored from the spot between the circles.
From this moment the Slovaks finally started to play really good and were in the pressure until the horn.
Jurčina said, that it was really hard to play against Slovenia during the first 40 minutes of play: "There is some nervousness because this is the first game of the tournament and what is more, we were still shooting on a net and cannot score the goal and Slovenians got the only one chance and opened the score. Slovenians are defending their net really good, we had to play harder."

The effort of Team Slovakia faded a little bit at the start of the third period, the Slovenians skated on the ice with new power and freshness that proved just in the first minute of the last period with the shot into the cross-bar of Halák’s net.

The game was really equal during the first minutes of the last period; one chance was followed by another one on the second side of the rink. But no other was as dangerous as the first one before the end of 47th minute. Kristan saved the day with a great liquidation of Surový big goal-scoring chance, but five seconds later, after two quick passes of Surový and Zedník came the second Slovakia goal: Peter Podhradský scored with a really hard shot from the blue line.

In the second half of the 53rd minute came a chance to Slovenia for equalizing the score: Marcel Hossa tried to pass across the Slovakia defensive zone but he missed and Ticar got an opportunity for a hard shot from the blue line. He couldn’t go into a breakaway because there was another one defender on the ice between him and Halák’s net so he had to shoot, but missed the net.
For the final result it could have been fatal that the Slovaks weren’t trying to increase their lead but only defending. For example: Slovakia’s power play in the 54th minute looked more like a time-out than an opportunity to score a goal, the game picture looked more like a game against Canada than against an outsider from Slovenia.

The last thirty seconds brought Slovenia a timeout and a big pressure of the away team with six players on the ice, but the Slovaks scored a goal into the empty net. Concretely Lubomír Bartečko was the lucky man who signed Slovakia’s tough victory in its first game of the tournament.
Miroslav Šatan tried to describe what was the Slovak problem with beating the outsider: "It’s the very first time when the championships are playing here in Slovakia so we are a little bit nervous, for more Slovenians scored the first goal and our nervousness was bigger. Fortunately our offensive effort went better with time, we scored two goals and nervousness fell down."

"This group will be very though," Šatan told with the link on the second today’s game between Germany and Russia, "Germans beat Russians, so we have to prepare really well before the second game against Germany."

The best players of the game: Šatan (SVK) - Kranjc (SLO)

 

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