No ruffles in Czech ice hockey team's rout of Kazakhstan

The 68th Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague is well underway and Monday saw the Czechs in Game 2 action against Kazakhstan. They won easily - fans expected no less - and will now prepare to down Germany to secure top spot in their group.

No ruffles in Czech ice hockey team's rout of Kazakhstan

Czech Republic - Kazakhstan, photo: CTK

The Czechs versus Kazakhstan - no one every expected this one to be close: on the night the Czechs easily routed their opponents 7:0. It has been the trend in their first two appearances for the Czechs to come out gangbusters, dealing a sledgehammer blow in the first period to make the rest of the game academic. By the end of the first twenty minutes the Kazakhs had pulled beleaguered goalie Vitaliy Yeremeyev from the crease, buried under goals by Jagr, Prucha, Vyborny, and Martin Rucinsky.

The Czechs then sat back a little for a scoreless second period, before Rucinsky scored two in the final twenty minutes to cap the hat-trick. Arguably Martin Rucinsky's nicest goal was his second, a backhander against Vitaliy Kolesnik in which the forward broke away, coolly waited for the goalie to go down, then flipped the puck into the open net.

Afterwards Martin Rucinsky explained the Czech teams' tactics so far.

Jaromir Jagr, photo: CTK

"We got off to a good start which made it easier. Otherwise the result might have taken longer, or seen a slump like in the Canada game against Austria where they were 2-0 in the final ten minutes and had to work very hard to tie it. We got two or three quick goals and after that were in control."

Which no less than one would expect - though, for instance, Canada struggling against Austria and the U.S. eking out a tie with Slovakia have been surprising. In the preliminary round the big guns including the Czechs - are all expected to dominate. Even more importantly though teams will have to carry their momentum through to the elimination stages: quarter finals following the second round robin, where one bad game means the difference. Star forward Jaromir Jagr:

Martin Rucinsky scores the sixth goal, photo: CTK

"In the tournament these early wins don't really mean much. We saw that at the last Olympics or at the World Championships two years ago, where we played perfectly but lost the deciding game. Nobody remembers that now..."

In spite of Jaromir Jagr's dislike of the system fans at Prague's Sazka arena were by no means disappointed. The preliminary matches have given time for the players to gel and goaltender Tomas Vokoun - who had an amazing season in the NHL, can only have continued to build up further confidence. So far he has allowed just one goal on forty-one shots and if he continues to step up his game he might soon be as intimidating as another Czech goaltender we all know.