Slovakia beats Canada for first time at U-18 IIHF Men’s World Championship
History has been made.
For the first time in 13 meetings, Slovakia has beaten Canada at the IIHF U-18 Men’s World Championship, winning 2-1 on Wednesday night.
The best part? The Slovaks did it on home ice at the Pavol Demitra Ice Hockey Stadium in Trencin, Slovakia.
Slovakia never trailed on Wednesday, with Samuel Sramaty scoring on the power play to make it 1-0 at 31:50. Mathis Preston scored a few minutes later to tie the game up at one apiece, setting things up for a wild third period.
Canada started the third period looking strong, but an injury to starting goalie Gavin Betts threw a wrench into everything. New goalie Carter Esler had to deal with a penalty shot a few minutes after getting inserted into the game, with Timothy Kazda making no mistake on the game-winning goal.
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Netminder Denis Celko took home player of the game honors for the Slovaks after making 25 saves in his tournament debut.
Canada had never lost to Slovakia in any major U-18 men’s hockey event and came in as heavy favorites after taking home the past two gold medals. The two teams met previously this season ahead of the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August, with Canada winning 7-0. Canada won both meetings at the U-18s last year, starting with a 9-2 win in the round-robin and a 4-0 win in the semifinal.
Slovakia has advanced to the bronze medal game in each of the past three tournaments, but hasn’t taken home a medal since 2003. The team was relegated in 2019, and would go on to play the next few years in the Division IA event before earning promotion in time to finish fourth in 2023.
Slovakia will take on Norway on April 23, then finish the round-robin with games against Finland (April 25) and Latvia (April 27).
The U-18 World Championship is the final major national team event on the 2026 NHL Draft calendar. For a list of the top 15 prospects to watch, click here.