EDMONTON — Roman Faith scored late in the third period as Slovakia beat Switzerland 1-0 in the opening game of the world junior hockey championship on Friday.
Slovakia goaltender Simon Latkoczy registered the shutout, recording 28 saves. He made a highlight-reel glove save on Inaki Baragano on a Swiss power play late in the third period at Rogers Place.
Faith scored at 14:17 of the third, banging a loose puck from the slot past Thibault Fatton.
Slovakia returns to action Sunday against Canada. The Swiss play Finland the same day.
Slovakia and Switzerland lost in quarterfinal action last year. Switzerland fell to Russia and Slovakia dropped a game against Canada.
Switzerland crushed Slovakia 7-2 in preliminary-round action last year.
The United States are scheduled to face Russia later Saturday night.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.