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Facing elimination in the dying seconds, Tuomas Suoniemi scored on a blast from the point with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation time to give Slovakia a 2-1 victory over Slovakia in Group B´s final game at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. The Finns will face Czechia in the semi-finals, knocking Switzerland out of a semi-final spot down to third. With the fourth-place finish in the group, Slovakia will play Germany for seventh overall on Friday.
Penalties: 0:0. PP goals: 0:0. SH goals: 0:0.
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After two defeats, the Slovaks produced their best effort of the tournament so far and nearly their first point, as they played the Finns very evenly before an enthusiastic home crowd of 2942. After a scoreless first period, the two teams exchanged power-play goals early in the second period and that was all until Suoniemi’s late heroics.
Slovakia began the second period on the power play and it took just 14 seconds to cash in. Luka Radivojevič made a long pass from his own zone to send Alex Miroslav Zálešák on a partial breakaway down the left wing, and he made no mistake, firing a wrist shot over Petteri Rimpinen’s glove.
The Trenčín crowd erupted, but it took less than three minutes for the Finns to reply and silence the fans. Suoniemi made a cross-seam pass to Emil Hemming, who shot it through a crowd and over Martin Haronik’s glove.
Late in the second period, Finland threatened on another power play but Haronik and the Slovak penalty-killers held their ground. With every minute that passed in the third period, the Finns became more anxious and the Slovaks more confident, with the fans enjoying it despite the lack of offence.
In the last six minutes, the Finns began to sacrifice defence in order to create more chances, creating some end-to-end rushes, scrambles in front of each net, and plenty of physical exchanges after whistles.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Rimpinen was lifted for an extra attacker with 1:20 to play, and from then on, the Finns had almost continuous possession of the puck in the Slovak zone. The Slovaks did a good job of taking away shooting lanes to the net, but it seemed like a matter of time before something gave way. When it finally happened, there was very little time left.
With less than 10 seconds to play, there was a scramble for the puck in front of the net but it was cleared to the corner, where Finland’s dynamic duo went to work. Hemming backhanded the puck up the boards to Suoniemi, who knew time was running out so he just hammered it. There was a crowd of bodies in front of the net, but it went through everybody, including Haronik, who crumpled to the ice in dejection.
But on the Finnish side, it was pure elation. Next stop: Břeclav and a semi-final date with Czechia.