Finland vs Slovakia 6:2 – 2 goals from Juraj Slafkovsky (Olympic games Beijing 2022)

Only 17 years old Juraj Slafkovsky from Slovakia and his two goals against Finland at Olympic Games in Beijing 2022.

Slovakia is one of the more intriguing teams competing in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Not because the country is expected to win gold or even compete for a medal, but because two of its top players — Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec — are competing at just 17, and both are likely to be selected early in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in July.

The Slovaks fell to Finland in their tournament opener early Thursday morning by a score of 6-2, but Slafkovsky, who’s the youngest player competing in the men’s tournament, gave fans in his home country a whole lot to cheer about.

Early in the first period, he opened the scoring from point-blank range where he cleaned up a rebound and roofed the puck past Finnish netminder Harri Sateri. He later scored again with a wicked wrister from the right faceoff dot to briefly shift momentum back in his squad’s favor.

In the end, though, Slovakia was unable to keep up with the Finns in the scoring department.

Finnish forward Sakari Manninen netted a hat trick while Harri Pesonen and Miro Aaltonen (who scored twice) both earned markers of their own.

While it was a disappointing start to the tournament for the Slovaks, the strong play of Slafkovsky certainly gives them something to build on going into their next tilt.

They’ll face off against Sweden Friday morning at 3:40 a.m. ET while Finland will next take the ice against Latvia Friday morning at 8:10 a.m. ET.

SK:
Len 17 ročný Juraj Slafkovský zo Slovenska a jeho dva góly proti Fínsku na Olympijských hrách v Beijingu 2022

ZAPÍSAL SA DO HISTÓRIE:
Na jeho výkon sa po úvodnom dueli na ZOH 2022 hrnú slová chvály z každej strany a niet sa čomu čudovať. Najlepším hráčom v slovenskom drese proti Fínom (2:6) bol nepochybne talentovaný útočník Juraj Slafkovský (17).
Zápas síce začal až vo štvrtej formácii spolu s Milošom Romanom a Pavlom Regendom, avšak napriek tomu dokázal streliť dva góly. Hráč TPS Turku sa po veľkom tlaku prvýkrát presadil už v šiestej minúte. Vďaka tomuto momentu sa stal prvým 17-ročným hokejistom od roku 1984, ktorý skóroval na olympijských hrách – vtedy sa to podarilo Edovi Olczykovi.

To však nebolo zo strany Juraja Slafkovského všetko. V druhej tretine takisto rozvlnil súperovu sieť. Novinár Jiří Vítek na Twitteri následne informoval, že naposledy sa 17-ročný hráč v jednom zápase pod piatimi kruhmi presadil dvakrát ešte v roku 1948. Čiže pred 74 rokmi! Veľkými písmenami sa tak zapísal do histórie najväčšieho športového podujatia, no a zároveň sa košický rodák stal najmladším slovenským olympijským strelcom.