by Lucas AYKROYD| IIHF
December 27th, 2024
Jan Chovan scored the go-ahead goal with 3:18 left in the third period as Slovakia earned its first win of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, nipping Switzerland 2-1. The Swiss remain winless through two games.
Chovan, who plays for Tappara Tampere in Finland, picked up the puck after Swiss blueliner Leon Muggli sent it up the middle, and he whipped a high shot home.
It was a cautious if hard-working battle between these Group B foes. Shots were even at 29 apiece. Slovakia netminder Samuel Urban won his duel with Swiss goalie Christian Kirsch, who was making his World Junior debut.
The teams were coming off tough first-day losses to higher-class opponents, with Slovakia falling 5-2 to Sweden and Switzerland 5-1 to Czechia. Offensive pop remains a concern for both sides.
Slovakia has two bronze medals (1999, 2015) to Switzerland’s one (1998). For either nation, anything better than the usual quarter-final exit would be a pleasant surprise this year.
In a tight-checking first period, coach Ivan Fenes’ Slovaks started slowly but ramped up their pressure as time went by. Daniel Jencko broke the scoreless tie at 18:46, standing in front of Kirsch to tip in Luka Radivojec’s centre point slapper. It was the second goal in as many games for the 19-year-old World Junior rookie who plays NCAA hockey for Amherst.
Slovak captain Dalibor Dvorsky – a four-time World Junior participant, like assistant captain Maxim Strbak – scored the first goal of these World Juniors against Sweden. The top 19-year-old prospect of the St. Louis Blues kept his 2025 tournament point streak going with an assist on Jencko’s goal.
Switzerland’s power play went 0-for-4 against the Czechs snf remained impotent here.The Swiss pressed for the equalizer during a mid-second period man advantage, but Urban authoritatively denied Muggli with a glove grab on the best Swiss chance.
Eric Schneller tied it up at 13:48, seconds after serving a tripping penalty. The Geneve-Servette attacker stepped out of the sin bin, took a long pass from Jamiro Reber, and fought off Radivojevic’s backchecking as he cut in off the right side to knife a backhander past the Slovak goalie.
With just over five minutes remaining in the third period, Kirsch made the nicest glove save of the afternoon, stretching out to foil Slovakia’s Tomas Pobezal from the slot. Unfortunately, he couldn’t repeat that move when Chovan scored the winner.
The Swiss pulled Kirsch for the extra skater in the dying stages, but it was to no avail.
Game Notes
- This victory gave Slovakia the slimmest of edges over Switzerland in the all-time head-to-head rivalry: eight wins, one tie, and seven losses, dating back to 1996.
- Forward Jonah Neuenschwander made his World Junior debut, becoming the first 15-year-old to appear at this tournament in 24 years and just the fifth all-time.
- He is the younger brother of 18-year-old Swiss goalie Elijah Neuenschwander, who played against Czechia.
- He has appeared in five Swiss NL games with EHC Biel-Bienne this season, recording one assist as a teammate of ex-NHL and World Championship veterans like Damien Brunner and Gaetan Haas.
- Both teams get Saturday off. On Sunday, the Swiss face a stiff test versus Sweden, while the Slovaks will revive their brotherly rivalry with neighboring Czechia.
