It’s a moment Timothy Kazda will never forget. Midway through the third period, the Slovak forward converted a penalty to put his team up 2-1 against defending champion Canada in Trencin.

Kazda’s neat finish, drawing back-up goalie Carter Esler off his crease and calmly slotting the puck behind him, sparked joyous scenes at a fervent Pavol Demitra Stadium on the opening night of the 2026 IIHF Men’s U18 World Championship.

“That’s my biggest goal yet,” said the local hero, who spent seven years in Trencin’s youth system before crossing the Atlantic in 2022.

“I felt like I had the confidence to take the shot. I would say it’s a go-to move for me. I’ve been practising it since I was little and thank God it worked tonight.”

Opening night was set up for fireworks - and it delivered a battling win for the host nation against powerhouse opposition.

From pre-game tifo to Dukla ultras in full cry, Slovakia did all it could to exploit home advantage against a Canada team looking for a third successive U18 gold medal.

It worked.

Driven forward by the pounding of the drums, roared on by the crowd standing on the upper tier of the compact arena, Slovakia pushed defending champion hard from the start.

“There’s a lot of fans here, they take a lot of pride in their hockey,” said Alessandro di Iorio, part of Canada’s golden team last year. “Those fans gave them a lot of momentum.”

The defensive effort was supreme: shots blocked, sticks disrupting passes, goalie Denis Celko a reliable last redoubt.
 
And it wasn’t all backs-to-the-wall. Slovakia’s offence came out to play. True, it was often a case of anticipation rather than genuine goalmouth excitement. But a better feed from Samuel Karsay might have set up Matus Valek in front of the net; Kazda fired wide from a dangerous position. Canadian goalie Gavin Betts looked uncertain a couple of times when leaving his crease.

At the other end the Canadians tried to step up a gear. But, apart from one sustained spell of pressure when Slovakia found itself penned in after a menacing Ryder Cali raid, the home team coped admirably. A goalless first period was warmly received by Slovak fans, many of whom would remember how this game last year saw Canada blast it away with five goals in seven first-period minutes in Texas.

In Trencin, there was more to come for the home team. Slovakia’s first power play of the game brought the opening goal midway through the second period. Samuel Sramaty, who made his senior debut for Slovan Bratislava this season, sent the home crowd wild when he raced onto Michal Jakubec’s stretch pass and rifled home a wrister from the left-hand circle.

But Canada has resilience in its hockey DNA. A couple of minutes after that goal, with the jubilation still bubbling around the arena, a Slovak penalty led to an equalizer. This was one from the coach’s playbook, slick passing around the zone culminating in Adam Valentini’s feed in front of the net for Mathis Preston to touch home at the back door.

The crowd was quelled – but only briefly. Maxim Simko’s forward charge soon cranked the volume back up, even though Kazda’s shot did not trouble Betts. And the game remained poised at the start of the third. Canada had saw chances missed by di Iorio and Thomas Rousseau.

But in between, it lost starting goalie Betts to injury as Slovakia continued to trade chances. And when Ivan Matta’s rush was crudely halted by Lucas Ambrosio on 48:43, Kazda, who spent last season in the USHL with Chicago Steel, was coolest man in the building as he converted the penalty shot.

With four to play, he almost finished the job himself but his shot looped over Esler’s net. And each tick of the clock ratchetted up the tension as Canada pushed for a tying goal. But even again six skaters, Slovakia maintained its defensive structure and protected Celko’s net to the end of a famous victory.

“That will be a wake-up call for us,” vowed di Iorio. “We’d rather have this happen earlier in the tournament rather than later.”

Slovakia returns to action against Norway tomorrow evening, boosted by a win that fuels hopes of improving on defeat in the last three bronze medal games at this tournament.

“We were so close every year so we’re going to hope so,” added Kazda. “We’ll just try to give 100% every game and see what happens.”