2025 World Juniors Championship: Slovakia Emerges Victorious Over Switzerland

On the second day of the 2025 World Juniors Championship, Slovakia faced Switzerland at noon CST Friday in Ottawa, Canada.

Related: A Quick Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship

The thrilling match finished with a score of 2-1.

The matchup was one of the highlights of the second day as it brought a very fast-paced and unpredictable match. 

Throughout the match, both nations exchanged attacks through their attacking zones. While moments of dominance occurred, the teams were not definitive on the possible winner.

Slovakia and Switzerland started the first period trying to create opportunities from the opposing team’s errors.

The Swiss’s first real opportunity came a little past the five-minute mark. It was a one-timer, however, and Slovakia’s goaltender Samuel Urban secured it.

The Swiss had the upper hand in the first half of the period, with many more clear opportunities and puck possession dominance. But as said before, that wasn’t enough to call it an “already won game”. 

Through the second half, Slovakia started understanding Switzerland’s game-playing, gaining an advantage, and opportunities came around. This would go on throughout the remainder of the match, one of the biggest aspects that led the Slovakian team to have the upper hand in the game.

In a game with not a lot of penalties, the first one favoured the Swiss, after a hooking penalty was called. Even though Switzerland maintained possession through the power-play, the Slovakian defence was locked in, not leaving any space for the opposing teams to create a chance.

Slovakia started the scoring similarly to its game against Sweden. Luka Radivojevic hit it in the direction of the goal and it was deflected by Daniel Jencko. 

The game held high-scoring chances all through the final whistle. 

In the second period, Switzerland found more chances. 

The red and white team was able to find the equalizer in the 13th minute of play. Eric Schneller was assisted by Jamiro Reber, to finish Slovakia’s advantage in the match.

The game held hhigh-scoringchances all through the final whistle. 

It was clear that Slovakia feared that they would lose a game on a comeback for the second consecutive day. 

The team shifted the momentum in the third period. Slovakia was able to fix its errors and, once again, defend the powerful Swiss team. 

The one to get the game-winning goal was Jan Chovan. In an unassisted goal, the player made it 2-1. 

Slovakia finally gathered its first coming from a 5-2 loss against Sweden, while the Swiss remained winless in the tournament.