Slovak ice hockey players succeeded in their first match at the final qualifying tournament for the 2026 Olympic Games. They beat their opponent from Austria 2:1.
Photo: TASR, Jakub Kotian
Slovakian hockey players celebrate a goal into Austria’s net.
In their second meeting, they will play against Hungary on Friday at 18:00 and they will close the tournament on Sunday also at 18:00 against Kazakhstan.
Only the winner of each of the three final qualifying groups will advance to the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. In addition to the Bratislava D-group, the same tournament is also played in Riga (Latvia, France, Slovenia, Ukraine) and Aalborg (Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Japan).
SLOVAKIA – Austria 2:1 (0:0, 2:1, 0:0)
Goals: 33. Gernát (M. Pospíšil, K. Pospíšil), 35. Kelemen (Kňažko, Ivan) – 40. Kasper (Heinrich, Reinbacher). Referees: Campbell (Kan.), Kaukokari (Fin.) – Briganti, Gustafson (both USA), expulsions: 4:5, power plays: 0:1, weaknesses: 0:0, 10,055 spectators.
SLOVAKIA: Hlavaj – Gernát, Čeresňák, Ivan, Nemec, Koch, Grman, Kňažko – Tatar, Hrivík, Lantoši – Kelemen, Cingel, Hudáček – Regenda, M. Pospíšil, K. Pospíšil – Sýkora, Sukeľ, Liška – Roman
Austria: Kickert – Reinbacher, Heinrich, Maier, Unterweger, Nickl, Wolf, Stapelfeld – Schneider, Kasper, Zwerger – Baumgartner, Haudum, Huber – Nissner, Wukovits, Bischofberger – Rohrer, Ganahl, Herburger – Huber
votes after the match:
Craig Ramsay, SR coach: “We had a lot of good chances, it’s a shame we didn’t score more goals, it could have been more calm. We had a great goalkeeper in the game, he kept us in the game. I think we did a pretty decent job, but we know what we need to be better at.”
Miloš Kelemen, scorer of the second goal of SR: “Three points are great for us, we went for victory from the beginning. We were slowed down by a goal to 2:1, but we managed it. It was a difficult match, it will be better from tomorrow.”
Tomáš Tatar, captain of SR: “We expected a difficult match and it was. The Austrians were more ‘out-of-the-box’ than us. It’s a shame that we didn’t convert the power plays, we had chances to bounce back, then we let them into the match unnecessarily. But we managed it and we have the important three points.”
Samuel Hlavaj, goalkeeper of SR: “It was a difficult duel, because it was also the first duel for me this season. It was quite difficult from the second half of the match. There was a run for the Austrians’ goal, otherwise I would have had it. We did it and that’s what’s important.”
The Slovaks started actively and, after the initial pressure, played a power game after only two minutes. The German had the first chance, followed by Hrivík twice, but Kickert held off the Austrians. In the first period, fast hockey was played, both teams skated well, the players kept a high tempo.
Hudáček had a chance when the visitors were sent off again, but even his sharp shot did not end up in the goal. Then Hlavaj also intervened when Wolf found himself alone in front of him. In the end, even the third power play of the Slovaks did not bring a goal, Tatar only aimed at the goalkeeper.
In the second period, K. Pospíšil had the first big chance, but the goalkeeper ruined his opportunity. On the opposite side, Hlavaj hit after Wukovits’ shot. After that, the Slovaks had more of the game again and were able to win twice in a short period of time.
Kickert was first beaten by Gernát and two minutes later by Kelemen. Tatar had a chance for the third goal, but again ran into the attentive Austrian goalkeeper. However, at the end of the second part of the game, the Slovak hockey players were undisciplined and the Austrians used a power play thanks to Kasper.
From the beginning of the third period, the game was balanced, the Austrians sensed an opportunity to equalize and started to play more with risk. Unterweger had their first chance, but Hlavaj caught him. They didn’t even succeed in the next power play, after it ended, Lantoši shone with a nice individual action.
It was the only offensive action of the Slovaks for a long time, after which they had to defend themselves against Austrian pressure. It lasted until the end of the duel, but another goal was not scored, even when the Austrians were playing without a goalkeeper.
next match:
Kazakhstan – Hungary 5:2 (1:0, 2:2, 2:0)
Goals: 16., 49. a 54. Michajlis, 32. Breus, 35. Muchametov – 23. Szongoth, 36. Sofron
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
