World Championship: Czechs on top of the World
The Czech Republic is celebrating gold on home ice at the 2024 IIHF World Championship. A 2-0 win over Switzerland in the final gave the Czechs the title for the first time since 2010, while the Swiss are still waiting for a maiden championship. Sweden claimed bronze with a 4-2 success against Canada.
Switzerland 0 Czech Republic 2 (0-0, 0-0, 0-2)
The Czechs won their first World Championship since 2010 – and their first on home ice since the 1985 Czechoslovak team – after blanking Switzerland in a tense final in Prague.
Goaltender Lukas Dostal was the Czech hero, stopping 31 shots in the final for his third shut-out of the tournament. The game was scoreless through 49 minutes before David Pastrnak made the breakthrough. He scored off an assist from Tomas Kundratek, who spent four seasons in the KHL with Dinamo Riga, Slovan, Torpedo and Kunlun. Kundratek is one of seven former KHLers on the Czech champion team.
Switzerland, seeking a first ever World Championship gold, battled hard but could not solve Dostal. Tournament MVP Kevin Fiala, who had seven goals from seven games on the way to the final, was held silent as the Swiss lost a final for the third time. David Kampf’s empty net goal sealed the deal in front of a jubilant 17,000-strong crowd in the Czech capital.
Fiala had the small consolation of being named tournament MVP. He was also named best forward by the directorate. Dostal was best goalie and Swiss captain Roman Josi was best defenseman. All three made the media All-Star Team along with Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson and forwards Dylan Cozens (CAN) and Roman Cervenka (SUI).
Captain Cervenka, the only Czech player to feature in the 2010 final, led his team in scoring with 11 (3+8) points, one more than Lukas Sedlak. The 38-year-old, currently playing in Switzerland, won a Gagarin Cup with SKA and also represented Avangard during his time in the KHL.
Sweden 4 Canada 2 (1-0, 0-1, 3-1)
The Tre Kronor beat Canada to the bronze medal. It’s the first hardware for Team Sweden since the 2018 World Championship, and coincides with Canada’s first time off the podium since that tournament in Denmark. It also means you have to go back to 1995 for the last time the Canadians won a bronze-medal game, with a run of five losses since then.
Defeat was especially tough on Canada’s goalie Joel Binnington. While he stopped 30 of 33 shots, he also played a big role in two crucial Swedish goals. After Pierre-Luc Dubois put the Canadians ahead in the third, Binnington was beaten by a routine point shot from Erik Karlsson that did not even have the benefit of a screen. Then, in the 54th minute, the goalie’s attempted clearance around the boards went straight to Carl Grundstrom, who potted his second of the game to make it 3-2 Sweden. Marcus Johansson finished the job with an empty-net tally. That goal also pushed Johansson to the top of Sweden’s scoring charts with 12 (6+6), one better than Karlsson.
“We did our job,” Johansson concluded. “We played a pretty good game and found a way to win. It was tough [losing to the Czechs] last night but when you come to the rink and you have a game against Canada, you don’t want to lose.”
Hall of Fame
Jaromir Jagr, who was one of the KHL’s biggest import stars in the league’s early years, was inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame in Prague on Sunday morning. Jagr, now 52, is still playing for his hometown team in Kladno, continuing a career that has brought him Triple Gold Club status.
Jagr’s connection with Avangard dates back to the 2004-2005 lockout season, when he first played in Omsk. He returned to the NHL for three more seasons with the Rangers, two as captain, before returning for the inaugural KHL campaign in 2008-2009. As well as captaining Avangard, Jagr was a poster boy for the first All-Star Games. He led a team of the KHL’s top imports to victories over their Russian counterparts in 2008 and 2009, then captained Team East to victory in 2010. Through three KHL seasons, Jagr has 181 games and 165 points.
Jagr was also part of the Czech Olympic champion team from 1998 that earned the Milestone Award. That roster also featured Dominik Hasek, who finished his playing career in the KHL with Spartak in 2010-2011.
Main photo: Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
