IIHF – The high-flying Czechs won the big one

The Czech Republic got off to a fast start and opened the scoring at 4:58 on a one-timer by David Spacek. It was the third goal of the tournament for the defenseman, who now leads all blueliners in goals with three.

They had a great chance to double their lead shortly after, but Nikita Quapp made a fine save from Robin Sapousek. However, they scored another goal later in the period. Philip Sinn mishandled the puck in his own head and Gabriel Szturc was in the right place at the right time, making a quick little backhand from the spot at 17:04 to give the Czech Republic a 2-0 lead.

The Czechs started the second by freezing the puck a half-dozen times in the first few minutes, and shortly before midway through the game, coach Tobias Abstreiter made a goaltending change, pulling Quapp and giving Simon Wolf time. He had previously played two games where he scored nine goals against Canada. Tonight, he allowed a goal on his first shot as Brabenec made a nice pass to Chmelar at 9:38 to make it a 3-0 game.

However, the Germans fought back and shined three minutes later with a fine individual effort from Veit Oswald. His shot was blocked in a hurry, but the puck bounced off the end boards and Oswald slammed it in before Suchanek could react.

Unfortunately, the team couldn’t muster more emotion from the goal and the Czech Republic hit two late markers to put the game out of reach. Szturc made a clever pass to Rysavy, who was directly in front of Wolf. Rysavy spun quickly and found the backside at 16:27. Just 47 seconds later, Petr Hauser scored from an almost impossible angle. A shot Wolf would no doubt want back.

The exclamation point on the evening was the Czech Republic adding two more early in the third just 29 seconds apart. Chmelar turned in another nice pass from Szturci, and then Jakub Kos made it 7-1 at 5:02. Jiri Tichacek capped the scoring at 17:23 with a high shot over Wolf’s glove to complete a three-on-two break.