Team Ukraine U18 Closes In on the 'Elite' Division at the 2025 Junior World Hockey Championship: What's Needed
Oleksandr Bobkin's squad must win their final match.
Ukraine's junior national hockey team beat Slovenia in the second-to-last round of the U18 World Championship, Division IA. This marks the team's third win of the tournament.
The qualifying cycle for hockey's world championship 'elite' division is nearing its end — qualifying requires winning Division IA. Along this path, the Ukrainian national team has already beaten the teams from Hungary and Austria (7:1 in both matches), but lost to Denmark in the second round, 1:5.
Oleksandr Bobkin's squad played Slovenia for the second time in the past month. The teams had also met in a friendly match ahead of the tournament, where Ukraine won in overtime, 5:4.
Match at the 2025 Junior World Hockey Championship, Ukraine U18 — Slovenia U18: Match Recap
- The Ukrainians managed to score twice within the first three minutes of the match — Illia Shybynskyi opened the tournament's third goal, and Matvii Shevtsov soon doubled the lead.
- Danylo Olifirchuk made it 3:0 midway through the first period. And although Slovenia pulled one goal back near the end of the opening 20 minutes, the teams went into the break with Ukraine ahead, 3:1.
- In the second period, the national team extended its lead to four goals — Mykhailo Haponenko and Danyil Kuraiev found the net.
- The third period brought Ukraine two more goals — from Illia Shybynskyi and Matvii Shevtsov. The former, in fact, moved into the tournament's top 3 scoring leaders. The hockey player has 6 points under the goals-plus-assists system — 4 goals and 2 assists.
2025 Junior World Hockey Championship (Division IA). Round 4
Ukraine — Slovenia — 7:1 (3:1, 2:0, 2:0)
2025 U18 World Hockey Championship Division IA Standings After the Ukraine — Austria Match
- Ukraine — 9 points (4 matches), 21:10 (goal difference)
- Denmark — 9 (3), 15:6
- Slovenia — 5 (4), 7:13
- Kazakhstan — 4 (3), 8:8
- Austria — 3 (3), 10:12
- Hungary — 0 (3), 1:13
As a result, Ukraine increased its points total in the standings to nine. The team's main rival for advancing out of the group remains Denmark, which has a game in hand.
To qualify for hockey's world championship 'elite' division, the 'yellow-and-blues' absolutely must win their final Division IA match, and hope that Denmark loses one of its two remaining matches, against Hungary or Slovenia.
Ukraine U18's final match at the 2025 Junior World Hockey Championship will be against Kazakhstan. The match will be the last one in Division IA — held Saturday, April 26, at 20:30 Kyiv time.