(Gothenburg, Sweden) Goaltender Adam Gajan blocked all 36 shots he faced, Montreal Canadiens prospect Filip Mesar had another assist and Slovakia posted a 3-0 victory over Switzerland, Wednesday, in one of four games on the World Junior Hockey Championship schedule.
According to the International Ice Hockey Federation website, this is the first time since 2002 that Slovakia has started this competition with two consecutive victories. On Tuesday, the Slovaks dominated the Czech Republic 6-2.
Mesar collected his assist – his third since the start of the tournament – on Peter Repcik’s insurance goal, scored into an empty net at 18:19 of the third period.
Servac Petrovsky scored another goal into an empty net 53 seconds later. It was already his third goal of the tournament.
Repcik earned an assist on the eventual winning goal, scored by Samuel Honzek at 8:33 of the first period against goalkeeper Alessio Beglieri.
The Slovaks won even though they were limited to 20 shots towards the rival net.
In the final match of the day in Gothenburg, two-time defending champions Canada will be looking for a second straight victory as they take on Latvia.
On the first day of competition, Tuesday, the Canadian team defeated Finland 5-2 while Latvia suffered a 6-0 loss to Sweden.
In the other two games on the program, on Wednesday, Finland will try to recover from its loss against Canada by facing Germany, while the Czech Republic will do battle with Norway.
A Swede suspended
Furthermore, the Disciplinary Committee of the World Junior Hockey Championship imposed a one-match suspension on Swedish defenseman Elias Salomonsson for an action made in the first seconds of the match against Latvia.
Salomonsson, a second-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 2022, violently shoved Emils Veckaktins in the ramp, near the center line, while the Latvia forward had his back turned to him.
Salomonsson, who was ejected from the match following his actions, will miss his team’s game on Thursday against Germany.