An overtime goal from Oliver Suvanto ended Slovakia’s winning start at the 2026 IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship.

A sell-out crowd at the Pavol Demitra Stadium in Trencin witnessed a thrilling game that saw the lead change hands repeatedly before regulation finished tied at 4-4.

But after 1:50 of the extras – the first overtime we’ve seen in Trencin in this tournament – Suvanto jumped off the bench in a well-timed line change. He skated onto Luca Santala’s feed after the forward had circled behind the Slovak net, and advanced to beat Denis Celko and win the game.

Suvanto had already seen a chance go begging on his first shift, but got an immediate boost from his team-mates.

“I went to the bench, I was a little bit frustrated, but the guys told me ‘you’ll score on the next one’. I think I did that!” said the game-winner. 

“I got a good pass from Luca [Santala] and just blindly threw the puck somewhere and saw it in the net.”

Slovakia challenged the play, but the officials saw nothing wrong in the review and Finland took a verdict that puts it on top of Group A.

“It was a great hockey team,” said Slovakia’s Lucian Bernat. “The better team wins. They got the opportunity in overtime, they executed it so good for them.”

Both teams came into this game undefeated and looking to claim top spot in Group A. Slovakia, full of confidence before another capacity crowd, took control of the first period. The home team was quicker to react and more willing to harass the opposing defence, forcing more than one chance on the turnover.

At the other end, Celko had little to do. But after backstopping the win over Canada, he had the crowd singing his name again when he flourished his glove to deny Ilari Makinen on Finland’s best look.

The opening goal came on 18:03. Once again, Finland struggled to clear its lines and Maxim Simko grabbed the loose puck. Oskari Ahmajarvi stopped his shot, but lost track of the rebound and Timothy Kazda stuffed it home.

But the carnival atmosphere took a hit at the start of the second period. A long video review awarded Makinen a tying goal in the fourth minute, and Tomas Selic was assessed a roughing minor.

That nurtured a sense of rough justice, when only intensified when Makinen struck again on 25:57. Finland’s offence had barely been in the game, yet Suomi had the lead.

“It was nice for me to score two goals but every guy on this team was a star tonight,” said Makinen. “Even at the end of the first period, we felt our game was good and we kept up the pressure for the full game.”

The drama was only just starting, though. Midway through the stanza, Kazda got his second of the game, turning at the top of the circle to drill home a low shot.

Then came three goals in 132 seconds. Finland got back in front when Adam Goljar sent an attempted clearance straight to Suvanto. Vilho Vanhatalo was the beneficiary this time, scoring off his team-mate’s feed to the backdoor.

Within a minute, Suvanto was struggling to clear his lines and Slovakia tied it up. Jakub Floris banged it in from the point and Samuel Hybsky put away the rebound.

The game continued to fly by the seat of its pants: confusion between Goljar and Celko almost gifted Finland a fourth goal, but Slovakia survived – and even thrived for a time. A breakaway saw Samuel Sramaty on a two-on-one rush. Shaping to pass, he sent Lenni Kokkonen the wrong way before skating through to make it 4-3 on 36:55.

“That second period was back-to-back, we scored and they scored,” said Kazda. “We just tried to keep it calm and play our game.”

On the other side, Suvanto added: “It’s not easy. We were talking about that before the game. Whatever happens, we keep grinding, thinking about the next shift. After that second period we just tried to pump each other up going into the last.”

For much of the third period, whistles were a rarity. The game continued at a thunderous pace, which possibly suited Slovakia. Frantic, edgy play, made it hard for Finland to create clear-cut chances to tie the scores.

Although the scoring slowed, the excitement never let up. Neither team was able to enjoy much control of the puck, but frequent turnovers and breakaways kept the crowd enthralled.

Gradually, though, the cheers for Slovakia clearances grew louder than the roar that greeted incursions into Finnish territory. That told the tale of a game that was tilting Finland’s way, and with five to play defender Samu Alalauri flipped a point shot through traffic to send the game to overtime. And once into the extras, he team was able to finish the job and climb to the top of the Group A standings ahead of a Monday meeting with Canada.