Pavlát handled his role excellently. And it was clear how glad he was that he didn’t disappoint the trust. “It’s unreal. It’s unreal feelings right after the match. This is a dream come true. Something I didn’t even dream of in the middle of the season, that I could start with the national team preparing for the World Cup and score in the first match. It was I am extremely grateful for that and I wanted to repay it with the best possible performance,” declared Pavlát.
“But I have to say that the whole team should have been named the best player. We played fantastic hockey from the middle of the game and we didn’t let them do anything. There were some weaknesses, but we played well and improved with each third. We had goals chances and we converted them,” said Pavlát looking back on the match.
The first chances belonged to his team, but then the Germans played a power play and they struck thanks to Tobias Eder’s successful run. “I saw the shot, but the player who was between the rings passed it to me. I thought it was a high stick, but maybe not. It was a shame, of course, because we had some chances there that we didn’t convert, then we got that goal and had to catch up, but we did it very well,” praised Pavlát, who did not let the conceded goal get him down. “The match was still long. There were still more than two thirds in front of us and I believed in the boys that we would score some goals and make it,” declared Pavlát.
Photo: Patrick Scheiber, CTK
Czech striker Jiří Smejkal finishes in front of German goalkeeper Maximilian Franzreb.
He couldn’t even account for the second conceded goal, the contact with the opponent in the goal area made it impossible for him to take better action, but from the point of view of the development of the match, Jonas Müller’s strike from the 52nd minute, which reduced the Germans’ deficit to 2:4, did not solve much. “I will have to look into it. I think there was probably a problem in the fact that our player brought it there for us, which makes the goal completely legal,” Pavlát did not hide.
Despite the long game break, he looked in great shape and at ease. “I didn’t catch for about a month, so it was harder to get into it, because training and a match are different. However, I think that then I fully got into it and from the second period I felt really good,” said Pavlát . “The Germans had a quick outnumbering and very good power plays, I think they gave us a lot of heat there. However, the boys did a great job, they blocked a lot of things and we played really well,” he added.
He dealt with nervousness in his own way. “I told myself that it was a match like any other. If I had to stress unnecessarily that it was a birthday boy, it would probably tie me up. Of course, the importance was much greater, but I prepared for it like any other match ,” said Pavlát.
