The Slovaks are still far from the quarterfinals: How many points were enough to advance in the past?
Three losses in a row! After four matches, the Slovak hockey players have only three points in their accounts at the World Championships in Helsinki and are in the incomplete table below the quarterfinals.
However, nothing is lost, because in the last three group matches, the trustees of coach Craig Ramsay have relatively weaker opponents. Of course, just as the Kazakhs and the Italians know how to be known, they know how to surprise, we know the qualities of the Danes well.
However, there is no room for the next layer in the remaining three doubles of the basic group. If there is no big surprise in any of our groups, it looks like the Slovaks will fight for the fourth place in the final duel of the group, on Tuesday against Denmark.
“We’re getting a little under pressure, it’s getting critical. And not just forwards, it’s going backwards, too.” identified co-commentator RTVS and world champion Vladimir Országh.
“The team and coaches are frustrated, we should probably still play 5 on 5. Play 11 powerliftings and not score … We haven’t even created unloaded A-level opportunities, powerlifters are killing us. We ourselves offered the opponent a chance. I haven’t seen that before, so that one team against each other has so many raids weakened, “said Marián Gáborík.
We started great last year
Slovakia last got out of the elite eight last year in Riga. At that time, after the first three matches, we had a full point gain – 9 points. We waited for eight years to advance to the quarterfinals, we played it before Riga for the last time in 2013 in Helsinki.
We now have 3 points in our account and we are still playing for 9 points. If we win everything in regular time, we will have 12 points, which should be enough for us to advance. A possible point layer in the last three matches, which, however, probably made our situation significantly more complicated. However, they do not have to play in the carats or supplement the points gains of the Danes or the French with the favorites.
In the past, 10 points were enough
If we look at the previous World Cup, ten points were enough for the quarterfinals from 2012 three times and 11 points were needed twice. In 2019, the fourth USA needed 14 points, in 2012 in Helsinki, where the Slovaks were silver, they had 4th place in the basic group 15 points, the Belarusians needed 14 points in 2015 and in 2018 the fourth Swiss had 12 points. Last year in Riga we went to the quarterfinals from the fourth place with 12 points.
The remaining program of Slovakia in group A:
Friday 20.5. at 19:20: Slovakia – Kazakhstan
Saturday 21.5 or 19.20: Slovakia – Italy
Tuesday 24.5 – 15.20: Slovakia – Denmark
How many points were enough to advance to the quarterfinals in the last seven years?
WC 2012, Helsinki: The Slovaks advanced from the 4th place, they had 15 points, the fifth France had 9.
WC 2013, Helsinki: The Slovaks advanced from the 4th place, they had 10 points, the fifth Germany has 9 points.
WC 2014, Minsk: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 10 points in the fifth place, the fourth France had 11 points.
WC 2015, Ostrava: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 9 points in the fifth place, the fourth Belarus a little 14 points.
WC 2016, St. Petersburg, Moscow: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 8 points in fifth place, the fourth USA had 10 points.
WC 2017, Kolín: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 4 points in seventh place, the fourth Germany had 11 points.
WC 2018, Copenhagen: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 11 points in the fifth place, they lost 1 point to the fourth Switzerland and 4 points to the third Czech Republic.
WC 2019, Košice, Bratislava: The Slovaks did not advance, they had 11 points in fifth place, they lost three points in the fourth USA.
MS 2021, Riga: The Slovaks advanced, with 12 points in fourth place.