MVN - Most Valuable Network

Czechs Take One in Shootout; Germany Falls Victim to Canada

Quebec, QC- One night after Russia and Belarus went to the first shootout of the IIHF World Championship, the Czech Republic and Belarus decided to duplicate that feat. Although David Krejci has had success in shootouts for Boston and Providence, it was Ales Kotalik who decided the game and gave the Czech Republic their fourth win in five games by a final score of 3-2. The other game of the day on Saturday involving a Bruin saw a much different fate. Marco Sturm’s German squad did manage to score a goal, but got lit up 10-1 by Canada.

Belarus might not be loaded with NHL talent from top to bottom like some teams in the tournament, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t compete with the others. They entered Saturday’s game with just one win in four games, but all three of their losses were decided by one goal. That says a lot, considering those opponents were Sweden, Switzerland, and Russia. The Czech Republic entered the game with three wins in four games, and needed a win to lock up a spot in the quarterfinals. Belarus got on the board first at the 18:12 mark of the opening period on a goal by Yaroslav Chupris. The Belarussians held onto that 1-0 lead until late in the period when the Czech Republic was finally able to tie the score thanks to Tomas Rolinek’s goal. Belarus grabbed their second lead of the game just before the midway mark of the third period when Montreal’s Andrei Kostitsyn connected for his second goal of the tournament. The lead lasted for a little less than four minutes. At 13:38 of the third, Kostitsyn’s Montreal teammate, Tomas Plekanec, set up Buffalo’s Ales Kotalik with the tying goal. The teams played a scoreless overtime, leading to a shootout. In the shootout, the Czechs scored on two of their three shots, including Ales Kotalik’s goal on the third attempt for a 2-1 advantage and a 3-2 victory. Milan Hnilicka made 16 saves on 18 shots during the game, before stopping two of three shots in shootout for the Czech Republic. Vitali Koval was a lot busier with 41 saves on 43 shots in the game before a 1-for-3 effort in the shootout. David Krejci had two shots on goal and was a minus-1 in 4:43 of action.

Unfortunately for Marco Sturm and the Germans, their game on Saturday with Canada was practically over before it even began. The first two periods of the contest can be summed up as a disaster for Germany. The first period began with Jason Spezza giving Canada a 1-0 lead at 5:14. The score stayed 1-0 through the first ten minutes of the game. The second half of the opening stanza took on a different feel as Dany Heatley, Eric Staal, and Patrick Sharp extended Canada’s lead to four. Already in full control of the game, Canada turned their 4-0 lead into a 9-0 lead in the second period. Eric Staal scored back-to-back goals to start the period to complete his hat trick, then scored later in the period for his fourth goal of the game. Derek Roy and Jamal Mayers also tallied for Canada in the second. 1:47 into the third period, the Canadians got their tenth goal of the game from Mike Green. Frank Hordler gave Germany something to cheer about when he scored at 8:40, but the damage was already done, and Canada had the easy 10-1 win. Cam Ward got the win in goal for Canada with 17 saves on 18 shots. Dmitrij Kotschnew suffered the loss with 14 saves on 18 shots. Robert Muller replaced Kotschnew, and allowed six goals on 24 shots. Marco Sturm had one shot on goal in the game, and was only minus-2 despite the nine goal loss. He saw 14:52 of ice time.

Team USA returns to the ice for their first game in three days as they take on Finland Sunday. The Americans have won three of their first four games, and can clinch a spot in the quarterfinals as long as they are able to pick up a point. Although they will likely get a spot anyway, this is a big game for seeding purposes. Finland has won all four of their games and has a two point lead on the Americans. A win for Team USA would put them in second place in Group F. A loss would guarantee that they wouldn’t be able to finish higher than third.

After Saturday’s exciting win over Belarus, the Czech Republic will be right back at it on Sunday. They will take on Sweden in their third and final game of the Qualifying Round. After starting the tournament 2-0, Sweden has dropped two of its’ last three games. The Swedes rolled past Denmark 8-1, but struggled offensively in a 4-2 loss to Switzerland and a 3-2 loss to Russia. The Czechs enter Sunday’s game with wins in four of their five games in the tournament. Their only loss came in overtime to Russia. A Czech Republic win would guarantee that they would finish no lower than second. If they lose, first place is out of the question, and they would also have Switzerland breathing down their backs.

Germany is off until Monday when they play Latvia. Unfortunately, this game is essentially pointless for the Germans. They have won just one of five games in the tournament, and have been mathematically eliminated from playing in the Quarterfinal Round. If Latvia loses against Norway on Sunday, Monday’s game will have fifth place in Group F on the line. If Germany is looking for optimism heading into that game, Latvia has just one goal in three games against Group F opponents.

Sunday’s game between Team USA and Finland takes place at 4:30 in Halifax. That game can be seen live at WCSN.com. Just as the USA game comes to an end, the Czech Republic will play their game against Sweden at 7:00. That game will be over in Quebec City, and can also be seen on WCSN.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 1:26 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.