L-R: Slovaks goalie Július Hudáček, Andrej Sekera and Canadian Max Domi in Saturday match of the B Group in St Petersburg. (source: TASR)
Canadian goals were scored by Rielly (11th minute 1st period) and Duchene (18th minute, 1st period); as well as Hall (33rd minute, 2nd period) , Scheifele (38th minute, 2nd period) and Brassard (50th minute, 3rd period).
Slovaks are playing in group B of the preliminary round with Canada, Finland, the USA, Belarus, France, Germany and Hungary. Based on IIHF World Rankings 2015 they are actually in the 8th position while Canada is the No 1.
After the Slovak team won two games – against Hungary (4:1) and France (5:1) – and lost with Germany (1:5) and Belarus (2:4); it has 6 points after the recent defeat, is placed 5th and has a total score of 12:16. Canad leads the B Group with 15 points and score of 30:4.
The biggest success for Slovak ice hockey was the Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2002. Slovakia won the gold medal game, defeating Russia 4–3. In 2015, the Slovak team did not even make it to the quarter finals at the World Cup in the Czech Republic. Their last big success was in 2012, when they won the silver medal in Helsinki, Finland.
Programme of the preliminary round - Group B:
May 7 (Sat) 12:15 GMT + 3, Slovakia - Hungary 4:1
May 8 (Sun) 20:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia – France 5:1
May 10 (Tue) 16:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia – Germany 1:5
May 11 (Wed) 16:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia – Belarus 2:4
May 14 (Sat) 20:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia - Canada 0:5
May 15 (Sun) 20:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia - Finland
May 17 (Tue) 12:15 GMT+ 3, Slovakia - USA
Canadian team: Talbot (Pickard) – Tanev, Rielly, Ceci, Murray, Dumba, Matheson, Hutton – Stone, Scheifele, Domi – Perry (C), Brassard, Hall – Gallagher, O'Reilly (A), Jenner – Duchene (A), McDavid, Marchand – Reinhart
Slovak team: J. Hudáček (Konrád) – Marinčin, Sekera (C), Švarný, Meszároš, Graňák (A), Mikuš, Jaroš – L. Hudáček, Viedenský, Jurčo – Daňo, Réway (A), Bakoš – Bartánus, Marcinko, Dravecký – Cehlárik, Skalický, Lušňák
Summary:
May 14 (Sat): Slovakia – Canada 0:5 (0:2, 0:2, 0:1), Scores: RIELLY Morgan (0:1; 11), DUCHENE Matt (0:2; 18), HALL Taylor (0:3; 33), SCHEIFELE Mark (0:4; 38), BRASSARD Derrick (0:5; 50).
