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The Czech Republic has won the bronze at the Ice Hockey World Championship, beating Finland 3:2. All three goals from the Czech team came in the first period. Petr Prucha gave his team the lead early on in the game at 12:17 and although the score was evened out just four minutes later by Mika Pyörälä the Czechs quickly regained the lead with a goal from Jiří Novotný at 17:22 into the period. Then with just 53.8 seconds remaining, David Krejčí snapped the puck into a practically empty net. The middle frame was scoreless. In the third period Jussi Jokinen spurred his team on by wiring the puck under the crossbar to make it 3:2, but although Finland gave it their best and outshot the Czechs 14:1 in the last period goaltender Jakub Štepánek weathered the storm.

The bronze came less than 24 hours after a disappointing 1:3 defeat at the hands of Slovakia which dashed the team’s hopes of playing in the final.

The Social Democrats have called for a cleansing of the party’s Central Bohemian leadership in connection with the corruption charges against former governor David Rath. Following a meeting of the party leadership on Saturday, chairman Bohuslav Sobotka said that there was general agreement that local leaders close to David Rath should resign and new elections should take place. The party is concerned about the negative impact the Rath corruption case could have on its chances in the autumn regional and senate elections. The former governor was arrested on Monday night with seven million crowns in cash and is suspected of being involved in a scheme abusing EU funds.

A commemorative ceremony for victims of the communist regime took place at Motol cemetery in Prague on Saturday. The event was attended by politicians, former dissidents and family members of those who died at the hands of the communists mainly in the hard-line 1950s. Motol cemetery was one of the places where they were secretly buried in mass graves. The dead were cremated and buried there only under registered numbers. Around two-thirds of the 78 victims have been identified. The existence of the mass grave at Motol cemetery was only discovered after the fall of communism.

On Saturday night Prague’s O2 arena will host the sixth annual Sensation dance music event held in the Czech Republic. Organizers are promising a splendid audio-visual show and seven DJs. The indoor electronic dance music event traditionally attended by dancers dressed exclusively in white originated in the Netherlands and has gained increasing popularity around the world. In past years it attracted as many as 17 thousand people to Prague’s O2 arena.