Czechs down Canada, book place in quarterfinals at Ice Hockey World Championship

The Czech national hockey team’s run at the Ice Hockey World Championship is back on track; on Tuesday, despite falling behind early, the team beat opponents Canada by a score of 3:2. The result means that the Czech Republic moves on to the knockout stage and faces Finland in the quarterfinals.

Czech Republic - Canada, photo: CTK

A win or at worst a tie was what the Czechs needed to keep their tournament hopes alive and a win was what they got: 3:2 in a strong game against Canada that shows the Czech team improving. While they found themselves in a hole early in first period, after Whitney scored against Vokoun, the Czechs were able to rebound, soon tying the game. Kašpar tied it 12 minutes later with what was amazingly enough the Czech team’s fourth short-handed goal in this year’s tournament. After that, Vokoun was solid in net to keep things even and eventually the Czechs went up on goals from Jágr and Klepiš. After the game, this is what defender Michal Rozsíval had to say:

Photo: CTK

“In the second period we felt a lot better after we had racked up a couple goals. We all felt a bit better, with more energy, and I at least felt a lot better than in the first. The 2nd and 3rd periods went well and everybody worked really hard and that’s what it’s all about.”

Canada had fought to get back in the match, but only scored again in the dying minutes of the third period, following a highly questionable play. Canada’s Corey Perry hit and brought down Tomáš Vokoun as the Czech goalie was playing the puck at the boards, loosening the puck in front and allowing Duchene to fire into the empty net. The score was 3:2 with roughly a minute remaining. The Czechs protested that there should have been a whistle on the play, but the goal stood. Tensions at this point were already close to boiling point and as the game ended the gloves came off for a number of Canadian and Czech players. A single fan bizarrely even made it onto the ice, to take part in the scrap, and it took some time for the refs to gain control of the situation, which eventually they did.

Czech Republic - Canada, photo: CTK

The Czechs will now get ready for Finland: the quarterfinal will be a “repeat” of their matchup at this year’s Winter Olympics. There the Finns won and sent the Czech team home. Czech fans will be hoping that this time things will end differently; as always once you get to the knockout rounds, there’s little room for error and there are no second chances: a single loss means the end.