Swiss ice hockey players entered the final of the world ice hockey championship in Prague on Saturday. Switzerland defeated Canada 3:2 (2:0, 0:1, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0).
The Swiss scored both goals in the first third within 130 seconds, realizing two of the three majorities. In the 16th minute, Kevin Fiala scored, and in the 18th minute – Nino Niederreiter – 2:0 for Switzerland.
In the 35th minute, Brandon Tanev recovered one goal for Canada after Olen Zellweger’s pass in equal formations – 1:2.
127 seconds before the end of regular time, the Canadians mostly evened the score, John Tavares sending the puck between the legs of the Swiss goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni with a shot from the right throw circle – 2:2.
39 seconds before the end of regular time, the Swiss violated the rules by having more than five players on the ice. The Canadians did not use the majority, earning two minutes themselves for a similar foul after four minutes played in overtime. However, extra time ended goalless.
In the post-match shots, Canadian Connor Bedard threw Genoni between the legs, and in the Canadian team’s goal, Jordan Binnington saved Sven Zenteler’s shot – 1-0 for Canada.
In the second series, Pierre-Luc Dubois did not score a goal, but Fiala reached 1:1.
In the third shootout, the winners were the goalkeepers, but in the fourth, Owen Power had already played Genoni, but the puck hit the post. On the other hand, Sven Andrigetho beat Binnington – 2:1 for Switzerland.
In the last series of shots, the puck thrown by Dylan Cousins was saved by Genoni, Switzerland entered the finals for the first time since 2018, and Canada did not enter the finals for the first time since 2018.
Fiala became the top scorer in the Swiss team with two (1+1) points, while Genoni saved 42 of 44 shots in the goal in 70 minutes.
In the goal of the Canadian national team, Binnington dealt with 28 Swiss shots.
The Canadians won all the matches in group A, although two of them ended in extra time, but in the playoff tournament, representatives of the homeland of hockey defeated Slovakia 6:3 in the first game, with three (2+1) points scored by Nick Paul.
Switzerland suffered its only loss in Group A against Canada, taking second place, but in the quarter-finals it defeated Germany 3-1, for which Christophe Berchi scored two goals.
It has already been reported that the Czech Republic beat Sweden 7:3 (2:2, 3:1, 2:0) in the first semi-final.
The fights for gold and bronze medals will also take place on Sunday at the “O2” arena in Prague.
Last year’s bronze medalist Latvia did not get out of the subgroup this year and finished in ninth place.
The 16 teams were divided into two groups of eight teams each, with each team playing seven games. The top four teams in each group will continue their medal fight in the quarter-finals, but the weaker teams in both groups left the stronger division and will be replaced by Hungary and Slovenia in the top 16 next year.
Last year, the Canadians triumphed in the world championships, beating Germany in the decisive match, while Latvia won the bronze medals, defeating the USA national team in overtime.
The World Championship will take place in the Czech cities of Prague and Ostrava until May 26.
Swiss ice hockey team. Photo: REUTERS/Scanpix
2024-05-26 06:42:10
#Swiss #hockey #players #defeating #Canada #enter #finals #world #hockey #championship
