Stockholm – The Czech hockey players defeated Switzerland 3-0 at the Swedish Games in Stockholm and won the Euro Hockey Tour without losing a point. The goals were scored in the third period by defender Tomáš Kundrátek and forward Petr Holík with Jakub Vrána, who headed for an empty goal in power play. In his second national team start, goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka caught a clean sheet. After a week, the team of coach Kari Jalonen continued the triumph at the Czech Games in Ostrava.
The duel with Switzerland, with which the Czechs, still led by Jalonen’s predecessor Filip Pešán, lost in the preliminary round of the playoffs at the February 2 Olympics in Beijing, was the general at the World Cup in Finland. The Czech team will join him next week with a match against Great Britain.
As on Saturday, Jalonen put all six NHL reinforcements into play against the goalkeeper – goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka, backs Filip Hronek with Radim Šimek and forwards Tomáš Hertl, Dominik Simon and Jakub Vrán. His counterpart Patrick Fischer built only two of the six North American players – bek Jonas Siegenthaler of New Jersey and striker Pius Suter of Detroit. He left the backs of Dean Kukan of Columbus and Janis Moser of Arizona and strikers Nico Hischier of New Jersey and Tim Meier of San Jose to rest.
The start of the match did not offer much of a chance. Vejmelka dealt with Corvi’s shot, on the other hand, Blümel checked Aeschlimann in the first place. Riat passed in the 14th minute, but the Czech goalkeeper prevented him from scoring with a rash. Loeffel and Suter fired more dangerous missiles. The Swiss goalkeeper dealt with the attempts of Crow, Červenka and Musil.
At the turn of the first and second period, the Czechs defended themselves during Jiříček’s expulsion, after a power play he threatened Heim with a shot and after a while. In the 23rd minute, Crow escaped, but did not mature on Aeschlimann with a backhand bluff. During For’s expulsion, the Swiss goalkeeper struck against Chlapík, whom Crow found, and Stránský did not reach the finish line in front of the exposed goal. After returning from the penalty bench, Forum escaped, but Vejmelka eliminated the chance with a rash. A moment later, he also dealt with Künzle’s options.
Under Czech pressure, the Swiss blocked Hertl’s attempt and Holík overshot. Then the opponent had the opportunity again, but Bertschy did not have an exact line of sight and Vejmelka managed to overcome Heim. Aeschlimann stopped Crow’s blow from a position between the circles.
Jalonen’s choice was successfully defended during Simon’s four-minute sentence. The Arizona goalkeeper pushed Corvi’s shot out of the right circle with his shoulder and managed to hit Eggenberger, who then fouled and shortened the Swiss numerical advantage by 112 seconds. In the game of four against four in renumbering, Hertl beat Vrán, who missed the goal. Červenka had another option after a quick check, but Aeschlimann pushed out the puck. Thürhauf, who is already in front of the Czech goal and a shot from the intermediate ring, did not change the goalless state.
At the turn of the second and third parts, the Czechs resisted on the bench during Crow’s stay. Aeschlimann then effectively hid Hertl’s shot in the trap, but in the 45th minute, with Thürhauf’s expulsion, he already collected. Jiříček charged Kundrátek on the left circle, who hit the opposite upper corner.
At 52:06, Holík secured the lead, who pushed through with a backhand ending from a position between the rings. At Červenka’s expulsion, the Swiss reached for power play, which they continued even after its end, and 151 seconds before the end, Crow’s result was completed in an empty goal.
Votes after the match:
Kari Jalonen (coach of the Czech Republic): “These three matches have given us a lot of confidence here. We have always started against Sweden, Finland and Switzerland with a little different tactics. I think we can handle good tactically. The team can also be patient on the way to victory. And today we have a lot of Karel Vejmelka also helped in the goal when he caught two or three solo escapes, and in the second part of the match we started to skate a bit better. “It was the third game in four days. But then we skated really well and in my opinion we deserved to win today. Winning the whole tournament definitely strengthened our faith in ourselves again.”
Roman Červenka (captain of the Czech Republic): “We had a great desire to manage the next match and win the whole tournament. We knew that the Swiss had an unpleasant team and that it would be a difficult match, which was confirmed. We are very happy to win, it’s great that we kept a good atmosphere in the team. The team is fine, it feels, we will want to follow up on the championship, get on well, so far the main thing has been to experience the system, we have new coaches, but I think we’ve all gotten into it. they didn’t even expect it to be that good in terms of results. “
Karel Vejmelka (goalkeeper of the Czech Republic): “We played well again and the boys played perfectly backwards. And we scored three goals, which is great. But we can’t be lulled. We have to keep going, because the main thing is still waiting for us. We are glad that we managed the last tournament, but so we have to keep working and ideally fine-tune the details that weren’t perfect. But I think we’re on the right track. Anyway, we couldn’t have wished for a better end to that preparation. It can only add confidence to the World Cup. “
Czech Republic – Switzerland 3: 0 (0: 0, 0: 0, 3: 0)
Goals and recordings: 45. Kundrátek (Jiříček, Červenka), 53. P. Holík (Krejčík), 58. Vrána (Hertl, Simon). Judges: Harnebring, Eriksson – Lundgren, Svensson (all Sweden). Penalty: 5: 3. Utilization: 1: 0. Attendance: 500.
Czech Republic: Vejmelka – Hronek, Šimek, Kundrátek, D. Musil, D. Jiříček, Krejčík, Moravčík, Jordán – Blümel, Krejčí, Červenka – J. Vrána, Hertl, Simon – M. Stránský, P. Holík, Chlapík – H. Zohorna, Černoch, Flek. Coach: Kari Jalonen.
Švýcarsko: S. Aeschlimann – Egli, Siegenthaler, Fora, Frick, Glauser, Marti, Loeffel – P. Suter, Corvi, Künzle – Scherwey, Ambühl, Thürkauf – Rod, Bertschy, Riat – Miranda, Heim, Eggenberger. Trener: Patrick Fischer.
Sweden – Finland 4: 3 (2: 1, 1: 1, 1: 1)
Branky a nahrávky: 1. Friberg (Kellman, Asplund), 6. Nordström (Bemström, Dahlin), 40. Kellman (Asplund, Ekman-Larsson), 44. Bemström (Tömmernes, Dahlin) – 7. Manninen, 22. Manninen ( Hartikainen, Pesonen), 44. Pesonen (Hartikainen). Rozhodčí: Hejduk, Pražák (both Czech Republic) – Persson, Nyqvist (both Swedish). Exclusion: 4: 6. Utilization: 1: 0.
Sweden: Hellberg – Ekman-Larsson, Pudas, Tömmernes, Folin, Lindholm, Dahlin, Folin, Roos – Bemström, Wallmark, Bromé – Friberg, Kellman, Asplund – Nordström, Bengtsson, Berggren – Lang, Aman, Söderblom. Trainer: Johan Garpenlöv.
Finsko: Säteri – Pokka, Ohtamaa, Hietanen, Lehtonen, Jokiharju, Seppälä, Kaski, Friman – Palmu, Björninen, Mäenalanen – Hartikainen, Manninen, Pesonen – Armia, Filppula, Innala – Nurmi, Pond, Rajala. Coach: Jukka Jalonen.
Final table of the Swedish Games:
| 1. | CR | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8:2 | 9 |
| 2. | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8:7 | 5 |
| 3. | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5:8 | 4 |
| 4. | Finland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6:10 | 0 |
Switzerland hockey Euro Swedish
