2005 WORLD JR. HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP - Dec. 25 - Jan. 4, 2005

[BOREALIS]

Slovakia 2, Finland 0 ~ played Dec. 27

Slovakia shuts out Finland 2-0: A perfect misfire

Posted on Tue, Dec. 28, 2004
By Brad E. Schlossman
Herald Staff Writer


THIEF RIVER FALLS - Tomas Bulik was thrilled he misfired.

The Slovakian forward found himself with the puck in the slot. He had a clear shot at the net.

"I was trying to go high ... . underneath the crossbar," Bulik said."It was a bad shot, but it turned out OK."

Bulik's first-period shot didn't get off the ground. Instead, it slid between Finland goaltender Tuukka Rask's legs and into the net for the game-winning goal as the Slovakian team topped Finland 2-0 in Group Bplay at the World Junior Championship in Thief River Falls' RalphEngelstad Arena on Monday.

Team captain Andrej Meszaros added an empty-net goal in the finalminute to secure the win for Slovakia.

"We were lucky to beat a team as talented and skilled as Finland," Slovakia coach Dusan Gregor said. "They play very, very good defensiveand disciplined hockey."

Slovakia played pretty good defense, too. Jaroslav Halak made 19saves to get the shutout victory.

"The defensive players helped me a lot," Halak said. "They clearedthe pucks out in front of me and made it easy for me."

The win was big for Slovakia. Finland, Slovakia and Sweden are battling for two of the three Group B spots in the medal round. Canadais a lock for the first spot.

"This game probably decided who will advance," Gregor said. "I want to thank all of our players for the extra effort they gave today."

The Finns had three straight power plays in the first period, but weren't able to capitalize on them.

"Slovakia, congratulations to them," Finland coach Risto Dufva said. "We didn't have enough emotion to beat Slovakia. Our offensive game was not strong enough. We had some power plays and we didn't score."

Bulik's goal came at the 4:35 mark in the first period. Off of a faceoff, Bulik passed the puck to Stefan Ruzicka, who passed it back to Bulik in the slot. That's when he misfired his shot, but still scored.

The Finns tried to put pressure on in the third period, but couldn't muster much offense. Slovakia outshot Finland 27-19 in the game.

Finland pulled Rask, who kept the Finns in the game,for an extra attacker.

But a puck got loose and slid along the left boards into the Finlandzone. Meszaros skated down the ice, collected the puck and had plenty of time to skate right up to the net and stuff in the clincher.

"Offensively, we played lazy," Rask said. "The Slovakian guys were tough on us."

"This was the most important win for us," Finland forward StanislavLascek said. "Our goal now is to get second in our group behindCanada. We have to play every game well and have good focus. We also need to get some goals."

The Slovakians will take them any way. Even if the shot doesn't gowhere it's intended.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/special_packages/world_juniors/10510988.htm