The quarterfinals began on Tuesday, January 2nd, with Slovakia and Finland battling it out to advance to the semifinals on Thursday, January 4th. Finland defeated Slovakia 4-3 in extra time to advance to the semi-finals. The heartbreaking loss ended Slovakia’s hopes of winning a medal, while Finland will be fighting for a medal.
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The Finn will have to wait until his opponent is decided. Slovakia is focused on the 2025 World Junior Championships and hopes to use this year’s loss as motivation and a learning experience. Finland had a slow start to the tournament, but that didn’t affect them in today’s quarterfinals. The victory over Sweden certainly gave Finland a much-needed confidence boost. A win against Slovakia will give Finland confidence going into the tournament.
The scoring began at the end of the first period with 0.2 seconds left. Adam Sikora scored a goal and Slovakia took the lead going into the half-time period. Tomi Manisto wasted no time and tied the game with a goal 2:36 into the second period after a great give-and-go rush into the offensive zone. The third season was more action-packed than his first two seasons. Leni Hamenaho scored on a 2-0 chance 0:36 into the third period. After holding the ball in the offensive zone for nearly a minute and a half, Dalibor Dvorski scored, and it took another seven minutes for Slovakia to gain a foothold. Aleksanteri Kaskimäki scored his first goal of the game with 1:34 remaining, giving Finland a 3-2 lead. Just when it looked like it was over for Slovakia, Philippe Messard tied it with 43.1 seconds left in the game. However, this good run was short-lived as Kaskimäki scored on a breakaway just 24 seconds into overtime, sending Finland into the semi-finals.
Goaltending made the early difference.
Both teams looked good early in the game, but both goaltenders made the difference. Finland had three dangerous scoring chances, but they were thwarted by Slovakian netminder Adam Gajan. Slovakia had five dangerous chances and four more zone entries that almost led to dangerous chances for Finnish netminder Niklas Kokko to score. Both Gajan and Cocco probably expected to go into the break with a scoreless tie, but Messard scored with 1.7 seconds left. He won the faceoff, gave the puck to Sykora, and Sykora scored with 0.2 seconds left in the period.
After the first period, Finland defeated Slovakia 14-10. Both teams played 5-on-5 for the entire 20 minutes, applying even pressure in a back-and-forth game, but Finland had several chances to break through, but Gajan easily saved them.
Related: 2024 World Junior Championship Guide
Both goaltenders dominating the net gave the team the confidence it needed for a close hockey game. The controversy over Sykora’s goal was a hot topic during the break, but Finland didn’t care and Kokko was able to quickly shake it off. Heading into his second period, his confidence needed to be higher than ever.
Slovakia’s pack patience was much better than Finland’s
Slovakia controlled the pace of the game throughout the second period, with Manisto scoring for Finland at 2:36 into the second period. Slovakia dominated possession in all three zones, limiting Finland to six shots for the entire period. Slovakia were patient with the puck and differentiated themselves from Finland in the second period. Slovakia had a total of 15 shots, but only four of them were dangerous chances. The Slovaks appeared to be sacrificing creating dangerous opportunities for greater patience and control.
This patience came in handy when Finland tried to take control of the neutral zone. Slovakia forced Finland to play on the outside, minimizing Finland’s success in penetrating the offensive zone. In addition, Slovakia were able to continue playing at their own pace in the second period and were able to limit Finland’s chances after Manisto’s goal.
Slovakia collapses in the third period, loses confidence in overtime
Just 36 seconds into the third period, Haminaho ran up the wing and found a chance to score on a 2-0 breakaway. The goal clearly upset Gajan, who got frustrated and shot the puck out of the net. Dvorsky tied the game late in the period, but it took several chances and a minute and a half of offensive zone pressure to do it. That minute and a half was their best play of the entire third period, but they collapsed in all three zones the rest of the period.
The drama intensified when Kaskimaki scored with 1:34 left in the game, and Slovakia’s hopes seemed to be dashed. A timeout was taken and Slovakia pulled up their goalkeeper to continue their resistance and hopefully extend this game into extra time. The Slovaks did just that, they will not fall easily. Messard wound up and fired a shot past Cocco to score with 43.1 seconds left. The final 94 seconds were certainly the highlight of the match.
However, it appears that if he had blinked, he could have missed extra time. Kaskimaki ran up the wing on a breakaway and scored his second goal 24 seconds into overtime, clinching Finland’s place in the semi-finals. Slovakia was stunned and Gajan remained motionless on the ice for a long time. This was not the result the Slovaks had hoped for. Slovakia’s medal hopes were dashed by Kaskimaki and Finland. Finland is currently awaiting their semi-final opponent on Thursday, January 4th.