Finland Bests Slovakia 6-0 at World Juniors Pre-Tournament Game in Cornwall

Cornwall has just hosted the Finnish and Slovakian junior hockey teams for a game of the IIHF World Junior Championship Pre-Tournament at the Ed Lumley Arena.

The arena was packed with thousands of fans from the SD&G area and elsewhere coming to watch the top prospects from these two countries duke it out in preparation for the World Juniors.

The game opened with a goal from Jesse Kiiskinen of Finland in just under 30 seconds. Kiiskinen, who was drafted in the third round of the 2023 NHL entry draft, and who is among Finland’s most premium young up-and-comers, got the crowd roaring early with a nice snap-shot.

Finland did not let up after their early goal; after a brief successful penalty kill 4 minutes into the first period, they proceeded to score goals at the 6:28, 10:44, and 16:42 minute marks of the first period by Aron Kiviharju, Roope Vesterinen, and Arttu Alasiurua, respectively. The former, Kiviharju, was once expected to be a top prospect in the 2024 draft class but has battled serious injury tanking his stock. With a strong performance in the juniors, he may be able to keep his NHL window open.

Below is footage of Alasiurua’s goal:

One emerging theme throughout the game was the hostility displayed from both sides, with fights nearly breaking out a few times throughout the game if not for the quick-acting referees.

The first period ended with Finland up 4-0 and an already demoralized Slovakia. Though the period saw both teams tied in shots at 10, Finland undoubtedly put on more offensive pressure as evidenced by the early lead.

Though they were outshot 10-3 in the second period, Slovakia certainly looked better than they did in the first, sustaining much more offensive pressure and not allowing Finland to score once, much thanks to a strong period from goalkeeper Samuel Urban.

After allowing two more goals before the midway point of the third period (by Kasper Halttunen and Kalle Kangas), Slovakia pulled Urban from net and replaced him with Michal Pradel, one of only three players under the age of 18 on either team. Pradel shut Finland out for the remainder of the game, making the final score 6-0.

In this third period, Slovakia was unable to capitalize on over a minute worth of a 5-on-3 powerplay, marking an unfortunate end to their night of offensive inefficiency. In fact, this final period saw 6 total penalties, which may be indicative of the animosity between these two teams. Only one power-play goal was scored all period, however.

When it was all said and done, Finland outshot Slovakia 37-21 in this game, and ultimately won by way of never letting up on offense and a strong performance in net by goalie Petteri Rimpinen, who had a 21-shot shutout.

As the final horn sounded, players from both teams once again started to get into a serious scuffle, marking what must have been the fifth or sixth time a fight nearly broke out.

Slovakia looks to bounce back against the United States in Kingston tomorrow. Finland plays the United States in front of a sold-out Ed Lumley arena here in Cornwall on Monday. The World Junior Championship tournament officially starts in Ottawa on the 26th.