World Championship: Czechs advance to last four
Quarter-final day at the 2024 IIHF World Championship saw the Czech Republic, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland advance to the weekend’s decisive games. The semi-final pairings see unbeaten Sweden take on the Czech host, with Canada facing Switzerland in a swift repeat of their Group A match-up, won 3-2 by the Canadians.
Prague
Canada 6 Slovakia 3 (2-1, 1-0, 3-2)
A high-scoring clash in Prague saw defending champion Canada advance to the semi-finals. Although the Canadians have not always been at their imposing best in this year’s World Championship, they continue to find ways to win. Today a dogged Slovakia refused to roll over, but ultimately could not produce the scoring it needed.
This one got off to a rapid start: Jared McCain and Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Canadians a 2-0 lead inside five minutes. Slovakia wobbled, but did not fall and Peter Cehlarik got them back in the game.
After the intermission, the Canadians began to take control: Nick Paul got the only goal of the middle frame, then Dylan Guenther and Brandon Tanev struck twice in 20 seconds to open a 5-1 lead. Game over? Not quite. Milos Keleman pulled a goal back, then a two-man power play late in the game saw Marek Hrivik make it 3-5 with almost three minutes to play. As the power play continued, Slovakia benched Samuel Hlavaj to play six-on-four. But that gamble failed: Paul potted his second of the night into an empty net to secure Canada’s passage.
USA 0 Czech Republic 1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)
Lukas Dostal was the Czech hero, making 36 saves to deny the top-scoring team from the group stage.
The USA blasted 37 goals in Group B, but could not make its chances count in Prague against the host nation.
The Czechs endured long spells of pressure, especially in the third period, but defended well. And Dostal proved too good for the Matt Boldy and Brady Tkachuk, who came into the game with 27 points between them.
At the other end, the only goal came on the Czech power play. The Americans did not allow a single PP goal in the preliminary round, but conceded after just 16 seconds on the kill here. Roman Cervenka got the puck back to the blue line and David Spacek’s shot bobbled into the net via Pavel Zacha’s ribs. Zacha is one of two players who arrived from Boston over the weekend; more celebrated team-mate David Pastrnak also featured but this was very much Dostal’s game.
Ostrava
Switzerland 3 Germany 1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0)
The Swiss laid their quarter-final hoodoo, avenging last year’s loss to Germany and making the final four for the first time since 2018’s silver medal.
The opening goal ran counter to logic. Germany came into the game with one of the strongest power plays from the group phase. Switzerland, also effective on the PP, had a relatively weak PK. However, the goal was a shorty, snatched by Christoph Bertschy in the eighth minute. Late in the frame, Nico Hischier’s sixth goal of the championship doubled that lead.
In the second, Switzerland seemed to sit on a two-goal advantage – and risked paying the penalty. Germany still had a hard time making in-roads on a well-drilled defense, but Dominik Kahun’s power play goal – special teams reverting to form this time – put last year’s runner-up right back in the game.
But Switzerland opted to close the game down. The teams shared just nine shots on goal in the third period, and Bertschy found the empty net to seal a Swiss win and advance to the semi-finals.
Sweden 2 Finland 1 OT (0-0, 0-0, 1-1, 1-0)
The form book suggested this would be easy for Sweden, but there’s never anything predictable in this Nordic rivalry. Unfancied Finland battled hard, tied the game in the last minute, but fell to Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal in the sixth minute of overtime.
The game had a dramatic finish, but for a long time it was something of a chess match. Sweden dominated the first two periods, but Finland’s resolute defense did a great job and it was still goalless through 40 minutes. Then through 50, then 55.
Rasmus Dahlin made the breakthrough on 55:02. Given the stacked Swedish defense, that felt like the winning goal. But Hannes Bjorninen had other ideas, lifting Valtteri Puustinen’s feed over Filip Gustavsson’s left shoulder to tie the game in the final minute.
In overtime, Finland’s rising star Konsta Helenius made a desperate hook on Adrian Kempe. He stopped the immediate danger for his team, but the Tre Kronor got it done on the power play, with Joel Eriksson Ek tipping home a Victor Hedman point shot. As in the USA vs Czech Republic game, the beaten team allowed a first power play goal of the tournament and lost out.
Main photo: Pasi Suokko/Apollo Photo/DeFodi Images / Getty Sport / GettyImages.ru
