Slovenia-France, the decisive match for French juniors | Junior Hockey – Ice Hockey

France and Slovenia meet as planned on this last day of competition to move up to the world IA division. The Slovenian juniors leave with an advantage because they won the confrontation in preparation (7-4), but also because they have an impeccable record all week. Yorick Treille’s men, on the other hand, lost two points in an overtime defeat against Ukraine (6-7) after a disastrous first third (1-5). They are therefore obliged to win in regulation time to finish first in the group. They of course have the means, with a first trio Simonsen-Gueurif-Hervé dominating. The day one winner (Makeev) missed his second start when he was knocked out at the third Ukrainian goal. Antoine Keller has been anchored as a starter in the cages since then.

The effort put in the initial minutes indicates that France are in their game. In the fifth minute, Lucas Colombin popped up to intercept a puck at the offensive blue line and was tripped by Jan Ćosić. At 5 against 4, Théo Gueurif crosses for Jordan Hervé’s deflection, which does not enter directly but ricochets at the opposite post on the skate of defender Juš Černe who was marking Colombin (picture above).

France continues by settling even in numerical equality. Defender Antoine Fertin takes a throw in the middle and Jordan Hervé is alone on the rebound on the right to double the lead (picture below).

Les Bleuets suffer a little more from the game afterwards, but they remain threatening on the counter-attack when Tomas Simonsen is on the ice with his speed. When Théo Gueurif recovers a rebound in front of his cage, he immediately launches the Amiens winger who has already left in the neutral zone. Simonsen overflows the defender, but then without framing his shot. France resumed their place in the offensive zone after a Slovenian overcrowding, and they remained there 5 against 5… but Emmanuel Navarro conceded an unnecessary penalty for a high stick. Slovenia therefore ended the first period on the numerical superiority but goalkeeper Antoine Keller raised his right shoulder well against Nal Brodnik’s throw at the crossbar.

Yorick Treille’s men therefore looked good in their match at the start of the second period, but they revived their opponent with an error: Matias Bachelet made a somewhat blind pass into the boards in the offensive zone when his colleagues changed position. line, Jure Povše inherits the puck and manages to slip it past Keller’s split at the conclusion of his solitary counterattack (picture below).

The France team then seems a little more feverish. While she seems to be picking up the thread of her game halfway through the match, she makes another mistake in the offensive zone: Quentin Tomasino trips Nejc Burgar so badly that the referees could have whistled the penalty by having an eye on their smartphone. During this inferiority, Keller closes the boots well on a threatening deviation from Gregor Žeželj. Les Bleuets dominate the end of the period but, despite a technical festival from Simonsen who dribbles the defense, they have to be content with this minimal gap after forty minutes.

France no longer has a margin and Enzo Carry obstructs Slovenian cycling in the boards at the start of the third period. Nal Brodnik crosses for Gregor Žeželj still placed in the slot for deflections, but the puck ricochets behind him towards Miha Beričič who sends it to the bottom (2-2). At that moment, the France Under-20 team will have to spend another year in the IB division…

There is reason to regain hope when Jure Povše raises the stick in the face of Guillaume Roussel behind the tricolor cage (2’+2′). But during these four minutes, there is always a Slovenian butt to oppose the French attempts. Only Flavian Dair manages to get a chance by stealing the puck from Cosic, but his cross shot is well captured by goalkeeper Luka Kolin who lowers his mitt.

It was the Slovenians who then gave the impression of dominating, while the draw result was favorable to them. This can open counter-attacks to the tricolors, but they are a little too hasty with imprecise passes. Tomas Simonsen creates a nice entry into the zone but ends up losing the puck by dint of playing alone: ​​Dolinar’s backhand exit from the zone is nevertheless intercepted by Fertin and Théo Gueurif passes to Maxime Corvez, in the center at the blue line , for a providential throw (picture above). The joy of the Bleuets is explosive at a time when promotion really seemed to be slipping through their fingers.

Now it’s about keeping that lead. Three minutes from the end, the Slovenian captain Matic Török overflows on the right wing, transplants to the cage and hits Antoine Keller. The two players lost their sticks in the clash but it was more problematic for the French goalkeeper, who was trying to get back into position against a shot from Jus Cerne. The red alert is maximum, Brodnik seems to have an empty cage, but he is countered. How hot it was! Slovenia put pressure in the offensive zone and got a face-off 1’18 from the end. His coach Lovro Bajc takes his time out and takes out his goalkeeper to play 6 against 5. On the second commitment, it is Emmanuel Navarro who makes the effort to take out the puck. The attack returns, Jordan Hervé intercepts and shoots just outside the empty cage.

It will therefore have been necessary to tremble until the end but the helmets are not long in flying. At a time when a change of generation is becoming urgent in the France team, the under-20s will now be able to play closer to the top level, in a division necessary for their development.

Named players of the match: Matic Török for Slovenia and Jordan Hervé for France.

Designated best players of their team in the tournament: Bine Mašič for Slovenia and Tomas Simonsen for France.

Post-match comments (on the FFHG website):

Yorick Treille (France coach): “Moving up to Division 1A was the objective announced when I arrived at the head of this team. We didn’t have the opportunity to go up last year, this time it’s good! We have the feeling that our place is in this division, with teams like Norway and Denmark for example representing the Top 16 in the world. It was disputed until the end. We knew we had a big offensive force and yet the winning goal came from a defender, Maxime Corvez. We were starting to get tired, this goal did us good. Slovenia gave us great adversity. Winning a tense match is always more fun. That’s sports! The game identity we had, based on sacrifice and hard work, was well respected. The guys tried their best to dictate the game without backing down. We also put a lot of speed and aggressiveness into our game. Everyone knew how to find their role and their mission in this group, it’s very pleasant as a coach and that made the difference on the ice. »

Slovenia – France 2-3 (0-2, 1-0, 1-1)
Saturday December 18, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. at the Tondiraba jäähall in Tallinn. 320 spectators.
Referees: Cédric Borga (SUI) assisted by Michal Gerne (POL) and Onni Hautamäki (FIN).
Penalties: Slovenia 8′ (4′, 0′, 4′); France 6′ (2′, 2′, 2′).
Shots: Slovenia 24 (5, 8, 11); France 32 (9, 13, 10).

Score evolution:
0-1 at 05’25: Hervé assisted by Gueurif and Simonsen (num. sup.)
0-2 at 08’27: Hervé assisted by Fertin and Colombin
1-2 at 22’04: Povše assisted by Langus and Burgar
2-2 at 43’46: Beričič assisted by Žeželj and Brodnik (num. over)
2-3 at 53’24: Corvez assisted by Simonsen

Slovenia (2′ for excess)

Forwards:
21-10-19 Nal Brodnik – Miha Beričič – Matic Török (C)
9-22-8 Luc Slivnik (-1) – Luka Gomboc (-1) – Marcel Mahkovec (-1)
17-18-23 Žiga Mehle (-1) – Jure Povše (4′) – Nejc Burgar
13-16-12 Maks Bukovec – Nace Langus (+1) – Gregor Zezelj

Defenders:
14-4 Bine Mašič (A, +1) – Jan Ćosić (+1, 2′)
7-5 Jus Cerne (-1) – Aljosa Pretnar (A, -2)
24-6 Tim Dolinar (-1) – Ozbe Slibar
2 Matej Petretic

Guardian :
1 Luka Kolin [sorti à 58’42]

Subs: Gašper Pajntar (L), Gašper Skerlep.

France

Forwards:
19-14-11 Tomas Simonsen (+2) – Theo Gueurif (A, +1) – Jordan Hervé (+2)
13-22-18 Flavian Dair (A) – Lucas Colombin (+1) – Quentin Tomasino (2′)
10-12-21 Emmanuel Navarro (2′) – Matias Bachelet (-1) – Paul Siraudin
17-16-24 Ilies Djemel (-1) – Kaylian Leborgne – Enzo Carry (-1, 2′)

Defenders:
6-4 Jules Boscq (C) – Alexis Dogemont
9-8 Guillaume Roussel – Arthur Larroque
3-7 Antoine Fertin (+1) – Maxime Corvez (+1)
5 Sasha Djigaouri

Guardian :
25 Anthony Keller

Replacements: Maxime Makeev (G), Tommy Perret. In reserve: Tonin Caubet (G).