Canada U18 surrendered a flawless 3-0 record to Slovakia on Tuesday night, losing 1:6 in the Glinka-Gretzky Cup. The hosts had won every game since the tournament began, but the scoreboard told a different story. By then the standings had flipped entirely.
Canada opened with three consecutive victories before facing Slovakia, including a 3:1 win over Sweden and a 7:0 demolition of Finland. They also suffered heavy defeats to Switzerland and Czechia in their opening two matches. The pattern suggested inconsistency beneath the perfect record.
Slovakia arrived with one win and two losses, having beaten Sweden 4:3 on Tuesday. Their earlier results showed vulnerability — 2:4 losses to USA and Sweden — but also flashes of class with a 7:1 victory over Denmark and a 1:0 win against Latvia.
Without minute-by-minute details, the scoreline speaks for itself. Canada's defensive structure, which had been tested repeatedly, simply collapsed. To be fair, the hosts had seen this before against Czechia and Switzerland, but the margin was different.
The table now shows Slovakia in second place with three points from three games, while Canada drops to a shared lead. The gap between first and second has narrowed to nothing. In these tournaments, one bad night can rewrite everything.