Slovakia Thrashes Singapore 18-2 to Secure First Place in Group D – 04.12.2018

It wasn’t expected to be a tight match, but nor was it expected to be so one-sided for Slovakia. The Slovaks decided the game already in the first period by scoring 7 goals and their 18-2 victory is the highest win of the tournament so far. Three Slovaks netted a hat-trick – Dudovič (3+3), Gál (3+2) and Čonka-Skyba (4+0). The 19-year-old Michal Dudovič is now the scoring leader of the championship with 16 points (7+9).

The whole match was just a one-sided affair. From the opening face-off, the Slovaks controlled the game and pushed Singapore onto their half of the rink. The Slovak forward Lukáš Ujhelyi scored the game opener at 0:37 already. After the third Slovak goal, the team Singapore coach took a time-out, but it did not help at all. Slovakia added four more goals before the first intermission and took a comfortable 7-0 lead. Although there were already no doubts about the winner, the 5,237 spectators were enjoying the game at the O2 arena anyway.

In the middle period, the Slovaks eased up a bit, but it did not change anything. They still managed to score six more goals. Although the Singaporeans created a few scoring opportunities, they were not able to find a way to the net. Slovakia changed goalkeepers during the second period – Jakub Klobučník, who plays at his first career Men’s World Championships, replaced Rastislav Mazák.

Despite facing a debacle, the Singaporeans did not lay down their arms and kept fighting, for which they were rewarded. They scored two goals in the third period, including one by Juin Jie Ng, the team’s best scorer with 4 goals. But the Slovaks continued in their scoring surge and three of them completed a hat-trick in the third period, including Ladislav Gál who recorded 2 points (1+1) in the 13-2 victory in last head-to-head encounter with Singapore at the WFC in Bern six years ago. Filip Čonka-Skyba scored four times today, posting his second hat-trick at the tournament, and is currently his team’s best scorer with 8 goals.