Slovakia U20 bets on goalkeepers and will try to be a dark horse at the World Junior Championship

The U20 Hockey Championship returns to Europe. It will be hosted for the first time in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Swedes were supposed to host the World Championships two years ago, but in the end, due to a covid pandemic and the later removal of the tournament from Russia’s Omsk and Novosibirsk, the last three junior championships have been played in Canada.

And although behind the scenes the Russians were reportedly trying to push for the inclusion of at least young players in the U18 and U20 world championships, the event will once again go ahead without them. So instead of fighting against Canada or Sweden, the very talented junior Matvey Michkov will only have the traditional pre-Christmas tournament in Moscow against Belarus, China and Kazakhstan. Thanks to the European organizers, the games will be played at much better times for the Czechs, allowing ice hockey fans to watch many more games on TV.

After an excellent championship last year, the Czech team is defending its silver medals. They will face the USA, Switzerland, Slovakia and Norway in the main group. At first glance, this is an easier group than the opposite one with Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Latvia. But the Americans are assembling one of the best selections with quality in all ranks.

The Slovaks also boast some very high quality names on the current roster. They will confirm the rise of youth hockey and could become the dark horse of the entire championship. That Slovak juniors are on the rise is confirmed not only by the high draft positions in the last two seasons, but also by the results of the national team selections. Last year at the U20 World Championship, our eastern neighbours scored a valuable victory in the preliminary group against the USA.

And in the quarter-finals they defied Canada, whom they eventually lost to in overtime. Thanks to their young age, several strong faces from last year’s 20’s showed up at the World 18’s Championship in April, where they were in Basel, Switzerland, longing for bronze after losing in overtime to Canada in the final bronze medal match.

Even though Montreal player and the number one pick in last year’s draft Juraj Slafkovsky cannot take part in the upcoming event, and the number two pick in the same year Simon Nemec, who was drafted by the New Jersey Devils a few days ago, will most likely not go either, the coaching staff headed by Ivan Feniš has a lot of room to play.

Adam Gajan should be a big support again. The best goalie of last year’s World Junior Championship has made an incredible rise. A year ago, he showed his great qualities at the big event in Canada and despite high fevers, he tormented the home stars in the aforementioned quarterfinal, when he decided only the megatalent Bedard in overtime.

At that time Gajan did not know that in a few months he would wear the same jersey as the future world hockey star Bedard. Chicago reached for the Poprad native right at the beginning of the second round. Gajan became the highest-ranked goaltender ever after the thirty-fifth overall pick in this year’s draft. Just a few spots ahead of Czech goalie Hrabal.

He could have been drafted last year, but no scouts were watching Adam Gajan – goalie of the Skalice. So after the move to the USA and especially the performance at the last championship against both overseas giants, there was a giant leap. Since then, Adam Gajan has been training in Green Bay, in the top American junior league, where he has a very solid shot success rate of over ninety-one percent despite a higher number of goals scored.

This year he will be one of the experienced players in the squad and his form can take the Slovaks far. Another goalkeeper in the current squad, Samuel Urban, who was one of the heroes of the Slovak 18’s progress over Finland in the quarter-finals of the Swiss 18’s World Championship, is also playing the same competition as Adam Gajan. Anyway, goalkeepers will be Slovakia’s strong point again.

With the probable absence of Šimon Nemec, Maxim Štrbák will be counted on for the position of one of the key backs. The son of the current assistant head coach of the Slovak U20 and former excellent defender Martin Štrbák also had a successful U18 World Championship. He scored the most points among Slovak defenders and was one of the most productive players of the team. He was drafted by Buffalo in the second round of the June draft and Štrbák moved on to the University of Michigan.

He has a lot of experience with Finnish hockey, having been through a number of youth categories with Jokerit Helsinki. Another interesting name in the defensive ranks is Jakub Chromiak. One of Slovakia’s current talents recently celebrated his 18th birthday and also changed jerseys in the Canadian OHL when he moved to Kingston. Chromiak is projected to have a big future, and is projected to be a first round pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He also has a successful U18 championship under his belt. As well as his other drafted teammates Baran and Pisoya.

Big aces abound in the Slovak offensive lines. A lot is expected from team leader Dalibor Dvorský. The creative centre shone a year ago at the World Twenty20 Championship and then as the most productive player he pulled the “18”. He crowned his successful season with a draft success, finishing in the elite ten. He didn’t move overseas immediately, but stayed in Sweden. He headed for the adult ranks in the top Swedish league, Oskarshamn. But he didn’t catch on there. He didn’t get much space on the ice and paid the price for the poor results of the whole Nordic club, which started badly and is now hopelessly at the bottom of the table.

Due to the increased workload, Dalibor Dvorský moved to the Canadian junior league. In the OHL for Sudbury he started to get big minutes again and especially “clouds of points”. His form should continue to improve at the World Under-20 Championship. Other first round draft picks Samuel Honzek and Filip Mešár will also be closely watched.

Honzek was helped to get off to a fast start by the confidence in his talent of the Dukla Trenčín coaches. After moving to Canada, he shined in the local junior league and was picked up by Calgary. Unfortunately, he was injured during training with the Flames. But now he’s back on the ice again, which is great news for the Slovak national team. Mešár is doing exceptionally well, helping Kitchener to the position of the best team in the OHL. Mešár is one of the most productive players on the team, and he and Dvorský occupy high positions in the overall league standings.

The participation of Adam Sýkora is also excellent news for Slovak and world junior hockey. The forward will join the team in Sweden and will add important experience from “adult hockey”. He plays in the AHL for Hartford, was on the first team of Nitra and has already played for the Slovak senior national team.

We shouldn’t forget about another successful player from the “World 18 Championship in April”, for example Juraj Pekarčík. St. Louis reached for another former Nitra player in the third round of the draft and with a bit of luck he could be in the Blues’ jersey with the aforementioned leader Dvorský, with whom he played in the “eighteen” in the first attack. Pekarcik, like some of his teammates mentioned above, is preparing for his chance in the elite American junior league of the USHL.

A lot of fans tend to underestimate the Slovak team, this lineup could be the dark horse of the tournament. This is despite a 1-5 loss to the Finns in Halmstad, Sweden. Let’s not forget that the Slovaks have very good goalies and a lot of hockey players who can play regularly in the NHL in the future.

In junior leagues overseas, some of them will be at least equal to the best. Just like for the Czech team, the Slovaks face a great quality of opponents for the quarterfinals from the second group – Canada, Sweden and Finland. But in the playoffs, both the Czechs and Slovaks can do it.

Source: IIHF