Last night they came in hope. Today, Slovakia’s fans came back in expectation. A sensational first ever victory over Canada in U18 play set Trencin talking. And game two against Norway was the perfect chance to that Martin Dendis’s team is a serious contender this year.

It ended in a comfortable 6-1 victory. But after rushing into an early lead, Slovakia played a dangerous game. Norway got back into contention and could have tied the scores in the second period.

However, a goal late in the middle frame, and a blistering start to the final stanza, saw Slovakia post its second win of the tournament to sit on top of Group A.

Defender Jakub Floris, who opened the scoring in the first minute, was happy with the win. But he added that there was still room for improvement, especially after Norway came back into the game.

“It was a good game from the start,” he said. “Two goals in the first 10 minutes is what we wanted, we wanted that momentum. 

“The second period wasn’t quite right, we have to learn from that, but in the third period that’s how we want to play. That’s our hockey.”

Norway’s captain Casper Kjolmoen was left frustrated that his team could not make more of its opportunities.

“It was a tight game in the first two periods but they scored on the chances they had,” he said. “To win the game, we need to score when we have our chances.”
 
The wave of Slovak optimism crested almost immediately. Within a minute, the host nation was in front. Defender Jakub Floris opened the scoring after 49 seconds when he skated onto a Michal Jakubec feed and fired home from between the hash marks.

“I just saw two of the Norway guys fall back and there was open space so I went there,” said the goalscorer. “I got a nice pass, and I was just looking for that open space. I shot it on the blocker and in it went.”

A second goal wasn’t long in coming. On 6:55 Samuel Sramaty did brilliantly to intercept a Norwegian clearance and drive to the crease. Maximillian Aas made the initial save, but Matej Beres was able to steer the rebound back to the doorstep for Tomas Selic to double Slovakia’s lead.

At which point, it felt safe to relax and count the goals as they went in.

Norway, however, had other ideas. Kim Veisten’s team felt it got the rough end of a lopsided scoreline in its opener against Finland and responded well after a slow start. 

There were warnings in the first period: a three-on-two rush, a big stick save from Samuel Hrenak to deflect a Philip Tollefsen blast to safety. Slovakia was in danger of letting its early intensity dissipate.

Hrenak was making his first appearance of the competition after Denis Celko got the start against Canada. He thoroughly enjoyed his debut. “It was awesome,” said the Fargo Force netminder. “We are playing so good and the atmosphere in Trencin is amazing. We enjoy every second here in the rink with the fans, we are very excited and grateful.”

Norway saw its chance and struck early in the middle frame. Five minutes after the restart, Kjolmoen’s pass unlocked the Slovak defence and August Jones-Nilsson lasered a shot to the top corner as Beres tried and failed to slide into his path. What started as a procession was turning into a slog for the home team.

Jones-Nilsson went close again, bringing a stick save from Hrenak after Benjamin Haglund’s neat backhand pass opened the home defence once more. The subsequent face-off saw Niklas Aaman Olsen fire wildly over the top.

Slovakia saw the game drifting out of control and boosted its own offence. Timothy Kazda, last night’s penalty shot hero, spotted Aas moving across his crease and fired to the open side; the Norwegian goalie recovered well to get his pad behind it.

Then, on 37:40, another Trencin native came up with another big goal to settle home nerves. Sramaty blocked Jesper Juntti’s attempt to clear the puck around the boards and got play out in front. Jakubec buried the chance to make it 3-1 at the second intermission.

Five minutes into the final frame, Slovakia made it safe. A sustained spell of pressure saw Aas make several saves as his defence tired in front of him. Fatigue took its toll: after Aas denied Adam Goljar’s effort, nobody in a white jersey tracked the puck and Ivan Matta had a simple task to tap into the net.

The Norwegian bench challenged the play, but merely earned a delay of game penalty after the review found no infringement. And that Slovak power play quickly added a fifth as Maxim Simko produced a fine finish from Matus Valek’s feed.

For Kjolmoen, that was the decisive moment. “It was a close game, especially in the second period, but we take that coach challenge,” he said. “It goes to 4-1 and there’s no way back.”

Selic had the final word, redirecting Goljer's point shot past Aas to make it 6-1. That was a second goal of the game for the forward, and a crowd-pleasing second point for captain Goljer, who has established himself on the Dukla Trencin blue line in the Slovak championship this season.