Slovak representative ice hockey players watched Tuesday evening's World Cup B-group match in their hotel rooms, after their 4:1 victory over Norway earlier in the day. In the end, the duel between Latvia and Switzerland did not bring a place in the quarter finals. After a 4:3 overtime triumph, the home team Latvian players celebrated advancing to the elimination round of the tournament.
The Slovaks had a chance to participate in the elimination round but were in need of a three-point triumph by the Swiss. "We were already looking forward a little when the Swiss scored a goal to make it 3:2, in the end it turned out the way it did... I think we can mainly blame the match with Kazakhstan, but also the duel with the Czech Republic, in which we could have earned points. It's definitely regrettable," goalkeeper Stanislav Škorvánek said.
Out of five participations in the World Championship under the leadership of Craig Ramsay, the Slovak hockey team converted two into quarterfinal appearances. They succeeded in two championships in a row in 2021 and 2022, and the Slovaks had the same goal this time as well. The Canadian skipper nominated eight newcomers to the World Championship in Riga, who mixed the team with experienced players into a balanced team, but this time it was not enough to break through to the elimination round. The average age of Slovak hockey players at this year's WC was 26 years. Eight players made their world championship debut this year, including all three goal keepers, two of whom played and were pleased with their performances. A year ago, a team with an average age of 24 flew to Helsinki for the championship, it was Slovakia's youngest ever team at the World Championship.
In Riga, the Slovak hockey players lost to the Czech Republic 2:3, to Canada 1:2 after a shootout, they were also not enough against Kazakhstan 3:4 after shootout, and they also lost to Switzerland 2:4. They defeated Latvia 2:1, Slovenia 1:0 and Norway 4:1.
