The defending bronze medalists are headed back to the Winter Olympics. Slovakia beat Kazakhstan 3-1 in the decisive game of the 2024 Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification Group D, qualifying for the ninth consecutive time and denying Kazakhstan its first Olympic appearance since 2006.
Slovakia 3 Kazakhstan 1 (2-0, 1-1, 0-0)
The Slovaks entered the game as favourites but also knew anything could happen in a single game. And so, anticipation and nervousness abounded among the sell-out crowd at Bratislava's Ondrej Nepela Arena.
“Well, I’m certainly satisfied with the result,” said Slovak coach Craig Ramsay. “I thought it was a great start, we had some great chances and got ahead by a couple of goals, and then they made some good adjustments, and then we made some adjustments, and it was a good battle after that. We tried to get all of our players into the game and they all did their job.”
Pumped up by the home fans, and wanting to take care of business right away, Slovakia came out with energy and Andrey Shutov – Kazkhstan’s star goalie through two games – was forced to make a big glove save off Martin Pospisil in the first minute.
“I got a great pass from Regenda but it didn’t end up in the net,” Pospisil shrugged.
The Slovaks continues to press and drew the game’s first power play at 3:29. They cashed in just shy of the five-minute mark when Marek Hrivik’s shot missed the net, but bounced off the end boards and out the other side, where Robert Lantosi was in the right place to put it in from a sharp angle before Shutov could dive across.
Slovakia kept coming and Michal Ivan almost scored 39 seconds later but hit Shutov in the shoulder from point-blank. After the Slovaks killed a penalty they scored their second goal at 12:21. Pospisil won a battle for the puck down low and it ended up being fed in front to Pavol Regenda, who fired it home.
“I think we did a really good job on the forecheck, just driving to the net,” Pospisil said about playing with Regenda and his brother, Kristian Pospisil. “They’re both pretty big guys and I think we had a good combination.”
Right off the second period’s opening faceoff, Roman Starchenko got a great chance for Kazakhstan but Samuel Hlavaj kicked it away.
Just past the game’s midpoint, Slovakia went up 3-0 thanks to hard work down low by Adam Liska and Adam Sykora. Shutov made the first save in close but Liska converted the rebound.
Kazakhstan got on the board with 4:08 to go in the middle frame when Nikita Mikhailis’ shot from the high slot went in through a maze of sticks, fooling Hlavaj.
The first half of the third period was played cautiously, which suited Slovakia, but as time wore on, Kazakhstan began to push. On a power play inside the last seven minutes, the Kazakhs almost drew within a goal, but their pressure also led to chances the other way. Milan Pospisil got a breakaway with just over five minutes left but was stopped by Shutov.
“We had a lot of chances and it could have ended up way more than it was,” Pospisil said. “But I’m really happy that we won – it was a really important game – and I’m excited to be going to Milan.”
A slashing penalty to Dmitri Breus with 4:05 to play put the Kazakhs in a tight spot as the Slovaks were happy to take time off the clock without really trying to score. There was some late pressure with Shutov pulled and the Kazakhs put the puck into the net after the final horn – too late.
Austria 4 Hungary 3 (0-3, 1-0, 2-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Sunday's early game saw Austria and Hungary each get their first points of the tournament. The Hungarians led 3-0 after one period before Austria rallied to tie it in the last minute of regulation time and win in a shootout. Dominic Zwerger had three points in the comeback and defenceman Lukas Haudum had two points in regulation before scoring the shootout winner.
“It’s better than losing the last game,” Austrian defenceman David Reinbacher said. “We didn’t play our best in the first period, but at least we showed some character and some pride in our game and came back to win it.”
Always motivated to beat their western neighbours, Hungary stormed out of the gate.
The first goal came just past the four-minute mark. On a 3-on-2 rush, Zeteny Hadobas took the initial shot up high, which was stopped by Thomas Honeckl. However, the Austrian goalie couldn’t control the rebound and Vilmos Gallo put it in.
Hungary went up 2-0 at 11:34. Balasz Varga’s shot went wide and rebounded off the end boards and Honeckl seemed to lose track of the puck. Kristof Papp got to it before anybody else and slid it in between the post and the goalie’s skate from a sharp angle.
After allowing three goals on 10 shots, Honeckl was pulled in favour of Florian Vorauer to start the second period. Vorauer stopped all 11 shots he faced in a choppy middle frame that saw several stoppages and three power play aside.
The Austrians still seemed out of sync, which was best demonstrated midway through the period on a shorthanded two-man breakaway. Vinzenz Rohrer attempted a drop pass to an unsuspecting Zwerger, who missed the puck.
Austria finally broke through on the power play late in the second period. They moved the puck around well, with Clemens Unterweger nicely setting up a one-timer from Haudum, who beat Bence Balizs inside the far post with 1:27 to go in the period.
A much more patient and composed Austrian team came out for the third period, outshooting Hungary 14-4 and eventually getting the two goals they needed to tie it up. They drew within one goal with 8:22 remaining as David Maier set up Zwerger, who beat Balizs with a perfect shot over the glove.
The later the game got, the more the Austrians pushed and, with Vorauer on the bench for a sixth attacker, they equalized with 43.1 seconds to go. Balizs stopped Haudum’s blast from the point but couldn’t freeze it, and Zwerger reached in behind the goalie and forced the puck over the goal line.
After a scoreless five-minute overtime, Austria won in a shootout. After Zwerger scored for Austria and Bence Horvath for Hungary, Haudum ended it in the sixth round.