Three losses, one win and the score is equal – 13:13. After the basic groups of the U20 WC, Slovakia is in fourth place in Group A.
In the new edition of the rankings, the IIHF ranked ours in eighth place. That is, where they are also based on point gain.
In the quarterfinals, the Slovaks will meet the favored Canada, and one thing could help them succeed, which the creators of the ranking ask with a dose of humor:
“Can we use artificial intelligence to clone Chrenko?”
Young attacker Tomáš Chrenko is one of the stars of the tournament. In four duels, he has already scored eight points for five goals and three assists and is currently the most productive player of the World Cup.
A player in a similar form would suit the Slovakian squad, and the IIHF also noticed it.
Slovakia’s position in the table, but also in the Power Ranking, was decided by the match with Switzerland. The result of the meeting itself was largely determined by the exclusion of Tobias Tomík.
In the 17th minute of the first period, he earned four minutes for dangerous play with a high stick. The Swiss punished it as best they could – with two goals. The youngsters from the Tatras could not erase their lead and eventually lost 2:3.
The Swiss are in sixth place in the power ranking. “Play against us with a high stick more often, please,” reads the description next to their flag.
The opponent of the Swiss in the quarter-finals will be the Czech Republic. Our western neighbors won the second place in the group after winning over Finland 2:1 after extra time.
Defender Adam Jiříček scored a wonderful goal. “Let’s toast to Jiříček!”
In the description, the IIHF played with the word toast, which means to toast but can also mean that someone has a problem. “If he can Jiříček goal, you have a problem,” reads the addition in brackets.
VIDEO: Adam Jiříček’s goal against Finland
The Swedes are the kings of the ranking. They finished the basic group as the only team without losing a point. They won four times, and the interesting thing is that the closest victory came in the meeting with Slovakia.
Their excellent performance is also described in the description in the ranking, where the creators once again played with double meaning. This time it was the phrase “we are perfect”: “Hello! We are perfect (we are perfect), how are you?”
Canada and the USA complete the podium places in the ranking. According to the description, the Americans would like to borrow Quinn Hughes – the defender of the Minnesota Wild, in whose stadium this junior championship is played, on the way to the defense.
The last two places in the ranking were occupied by teams fighting to remain among the elite – Germany and Denmark.
For the last Danes, the IIHF used the name of the latest episode of Stranger Things, which was released on New Year’s Eve. It’s called The Rightside Up. It could be loosely translated as right side up.
However, the exact opposite is written in the ranking: The Wrongside Up – wrong side up. This is true of the Danes. They are at the bottom of the table and if they want to play in the top ten for another year, they have to beat the Germans.
