GOTHENBURG (Sweden), May 12: Peter Bondra scored with less than two minutes remaining of the final to give Slovakia a 4-3 victory over Russia Saturday and their first world ice hockey championship gold medal.
They were forced to win the title the hard way, having to come back to beat hosts Sweden in the semis and Olympic champions Canada in the quarterfinals before taking on the Russians, the 1993 champions who as the former Soviet Union won the championship 22 times.
Slovakia lost in the 2000 final to their former countrymen the Czech Republic.—Reuters































