Will the third time be a charm for Slovakia?
The bronze medal game of the 2025 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship goes on Saturday in Frisco, Texas and the Slovaks are trying to change their fortunes, having lost the bronze game in 2023 and 2024.
Ten players from the 2024 team are back for another shot at a medal this year. And the Slovaks are trying to win the country’s first medal at the World U18s since grabbing silver in 2003, years before any of the current players were born.
The task won’t be easy, as the Slovaks will once again be the underdog in a game against the United States.
Slovakia lost 4-0 to Canada in the first semifinal on Friday and that was followed by the US dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to Sweden.
Slovakia finished second in Group A with a 2-1-0-1 record and will look to hand the United States its second loss. Team USA ran the table in Group B preliminary-round play at 4-0-0-0, prior to dropping its semi.
Slovakian head coach Martin Dendis has been impressed with his group so far in this tournament.
“I’m very proud of the guys, how they fight and what they do on the ice for our country and for each other,” he said following Slovakia’s semifinal loss. “We can be sad until about midnight but there’s another opportunity around the corner.
“For us, it doesn’t matter who we play. We’ll focus on ourselves and that’s what we can influence.”
Slovakia’s offence has been led by Tomas Chrenko, who sits 10th in tournament scoring with eight points, including five goals, in six games. Captain and defenceman Luka Radivojevic, along with forwards Jan Chovan and Tobias Tomik, are tied for second in points on Slovakia with five each.
The United States, meanwhile, has won a medal at the past three U18s – gold in 2023 and silver in 2024 and 2022. Head coach Greg Moore watched his team play Sweden to a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes on Friday, only to see the Swedes score twice in the third and eventually hold off the Americans 4-3.
Moore helped the United States win its first-ever gold medal at the U18s in 2002. He can speak from experience on how much it means to win a medal at a world championship.
“There’s definitely a lot of pride still to bring home some hardware. Right now, the guys are really emotional,” he said moments after the loss to Sweden. “They’re going to need some time to process things. They’ll wake up rejuvenated and excited to represent their country one more time.”
Moore believes Team USA played a strong game in the semi and is looking for another similar effort.
“We just have to do what we did (against Sweden),” he said. “Play a team game, play fast, use our skill. We’re not looking to change anything. We’ll make them play our game.”
Defenceman Asher Barnett is excited to try and win a medal on home soil, in front of friends, family and Team USA fans.
“There’s a lot that goes into this and a lot of people to play for. It means everything if we can go home with something,” he said. “It’s very important. We have to do our best to forget about what happened (in the semifinal) and come to the rink ready.”
LJ Mooney (2-9—11), Cullen Potter (4-4—8) and Will Moore (3-5—8) are Team USA’s top point getters heading into the bronze medal game.