Slovakia's underdog spirit ignites: they'll battle Canada's stars with relentless effort, banking on teamwork to overcome individual talent.
After playing four games in five days during the group stage of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, the Slovak coaches wanted to give their players a bit of a chance to rest on New Year’s Day but also want them to be ready for the speed they will face in Friday’s quarterfinal against Canada. The team’s practise on Thursday was therefore short but intense.
“We had a faster practise to sweat out the fatigue and all that,” said center Tomáš Pobežal, who plays for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. “And now we’re just going to focus on Canada.”
“There are no easy teams in the tournament and Canada is definitely a tough opponent, so we’re going to have to play as a team if we want to beat them,” said team captain Tobias Pitka, who plays for the University of Northern Michigan in the NCAA. “We’re a good team and I think everyone realizes what’s at stake this game, so we’re going to give it 100 percent and I think it’ll turn out well.”
“We know they have a lot of stars over there, players with NHL experience, but we’re mainly focused on ourselves,” Pobležal said. “We want to continue playing the way we did against Sweden and the USA. As the saying goes, the team beats the individual, so we’ll go into it as a team and try to win the game.”
Playing their team game, the Slovaks dropped two one-goal games to the Group A frontrunners – 3-2 to Sweden on the opening day of the tournament and 6-5 to the USA on Dec. 29. They also beat Germany 4-1, thanks to a Tomáš Chrenko hat trick.
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The Slovaks are coming off a disappointing 3-2 loss to Switzerland, in which they fell behind 3-0 before battling back with a pair of third-period goals. That loss dropped them to fourth in the group, which is why they’re now matched up against Canada, which won Group B. They know they can’t afford another sleepy start in this do-or-die game.
“As mentioned before, they have a lot of talented players, but I’m a believer that hard work can beat talent, so we’re ready to battle for every inch of ice,” said assistant coach Ivan Švarný. “They can score a lot of goals but they can also give up a lot of goals, so we’re going to try to rely on good, solid defense, which is going to be important, especially on the PK, and I think we have the speed to counter that and maybe surprise the Canadians.”
Slovakia’s biggest offensive weapon is Chrenko, the 18-year-old center who is the tournament’s co-leader with eight points. And the team’s last line of defense is goaltender Michal Pradal, the Detroit Red Wings prospect who played three of the team’s four group-stage games and will surely get the call against Canada.
History is not on Slovakia’s side in this matchup. In 17 previous meetings at the World Juniors, Canada has won 16, with the teams playing to a 0-0 tie in Brandon, Man. at the 1999 World Juniors. Their most recent meeting was also in the quarterfinals, with Canada winning 4-3 in overtime in 2023 in Halifax, N.S.
Slovakia last reached the semifinals in 2015 and have since lost in the quarterfinals nine straight times. At the U18 level, however, Slovakia has made the semis the last three years, and every member of this current Slovak U20 team has played on at least one of those teams.
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