Slovakia equalized in the very end, but U16 dominated in the attacks
The Czechs jumped into the game fantastically and in the second minute Filip Vlk could celebrate after a clever run. In the 9th minute, there was a second goal. Nikolas Mařík did a great job behind the goal, who served the puck between the circles to Matěj Weiss, who didn’t even make a mistake in kneeling. A little while later, however, the speedster Lucian Bernát broke free between the circles and lowered his wrist to the left post. It was even before the half of regular time. Bernát’s shot from an angle was kicked by Poletín right onto the stick of Alexej Kubát, who kept a calm head, skated to the side and sent the puck into the net with a backhand.
Just before the end of the second half, the national team took back the lead. In a power play, Martin Hečko shot past the blue, and from the right circle he aimed exactly between the legs of the Slovakian goalkeeper. But the tug-of-war continued in the final period. After Kristián Macák’s throw-in, it was evened out, but the Czechs regained the lead after the escaping Petr Tomek, whose backhand bluff Čelko was not entitled to. Less than two minutes before the siren, however, Jonas Ďurčo equalized after a huge confusion in front of the goal area, and so the match went to extra time.
In the set five-minute period, the Czech trio had several chances to decide, but the excellent catcher Čelko held Slovensko several times. That’s why it came to a raid resolution, in which the Slovaks didn’t make a single breakthrough, so Šimon Katolický’s brilliant shot from the first series was judged as the winning goal.
Coach Milan Razým’s view: “We reminded the boys that it’s a new day and a new game. Although we had a match against the same opponent, we knew it would be better than last time, which was confirmed. We had a good start, we took a 2-0 lead, which, paradoxically, hurt us. It seems to me that the boys got complacent and we left the initiative to the opponent, who quickly came back into the match. It was a very even match. We were better in the first ten minutes, but after that there were passages of play where the Slovaks had the upper hand. We took the lead five minutes before the end, but Slovakia equalized on the power play two minutes before the siren. I have to admit that they deserved a draw for their performance. We had more chances in extra time, but we didn’t use any. We dominated the raids, the boys scored three out of four, they were all beautiful goals.”
CZECH REPUBLIC U16 – SLOVAKIA U16 5:4 sn. (2:1, 1:1, 1:2 – 0:0)
Goals and saves: 2. Vlk (Reisnecker), 9. Weiss (Mařík, Slavík), 37. Hečko (Kachlíř, Tomek), 56. Tomek, dec. rent Catholic – 11. Bernat (Kubát), 27. Kubát (Bernat), 51. Macák (Ďurčo), 59. Ďurčo (Kovalčík, Rausa)
Czech Republic U16: Poletín (35. Veřmiřovský) – Vaněček, Kachlíř, Kůrka, Ruml (A), Skyba, Reisnecker, Cífka, Studnický – Katolický, Tomek (A), Hečko – Kerbler, Huk, Hanyš – Hrček (C), Sekanina, Vlk – Nightingale, Marík, Weiss
Slovakia U16: Čelko (Hrenák) – Kovalčík, Bereš, Požgay, Černák, Varga, Syrný, Imriška, Béres – Trebula, Stankoven (A), Rausa – Macák, Ďurčo (C), Matta (A) – Kubát, Hybský, Bernat – Krnáč Šimko , Churlej
The 18 team equalized with Finland six seconds before the end. The raids belonged to Suomi
In an extremely balanced duel between Finland and the Czech Republic, the first goal was scored only in the second period. Jokinen’s shot from the blue line was deflected by Mařík just in front of him, and Aatos Koivu, standing in front of the goal area, promptly knocked the puck into the net. The escaping Jakub Galnor could have taken care of the equalization, but his shot on the rebounder was pushed between the three posts by Saarinen.
In his own weakness, the agile Gashaw Teshome caused real problems for the national team. He was the first to finish a long throw for Mařík and with the trio of Czechs on his back, he drove in front of the goal, from where he found a free Saarelainen between the circles, whose shot to the right post was eliminated by the Czech goalkeeper with a catch. Lisner could have taken care of the equalizer on the other side, but the puck didn’t reach the Finnish sanctuary even twice. The fateful hit came six seconds before the end of the regular season. After the penetration of Petr Sikora, Jakub Hes fired into the concrete of Saarinen, from whose equipment the puck bounced exactly on the stick of Oskar Lisler, who drove alone to the back post and leveled the score at 1:1.
In extra time, neither team was able to create a greater scoring opportunity, so the decision was made only in raids. In the second series, Oliver Kopiloff headed under the concrete of Maříka, but Oskar Lisler equalized in the last batch. Aatos Koivu was responsible for Suomi’s fifth raid, which he managed to finish in the net. He put Mařík on the ice with a clever puller and pushed the puck around his concrete all the way into the net. Thus, the Czechs take one point at a time at the Five Nations Tournament in Finland.
FINLAND U18 – CZECH REPUBLIC U18 2:1 dec. (0:0, 1:0, 0:1 – 0:0)
Goals and saves: 23. Koivu (Jokinen, Keinänen), def. rent Koivu – 60. Lisler (Hes, Sikora)
Finland U18: Saarinen (Rimpinen) – Amhamdi, Nieminen, Jokinen, Mononen, Muhonen, Marila, Soini, Vikla – Koivu, Loponen, Pietilä, Suoniemi, Kopiloff, Ruohonen, Keinänen, Gashaw Teshome, Väärälä, Saareůaomem, Sinivuori, Pikkarainen
Czech Republic U18: Mařík (Ebenstreit) – Svozil, Skok, Švec, Hlinský, Král, Chaloupka – Pohludka, Vaculík, Hoch, Daníček, Hurt, Kos, Humeník, Veselský, Sikora, Teplý, Hes, Galnor, Lisler
Two minutes before the end, the Swiss decided the balanced duel between the two teams
The opening period was dominated by both defenses, the goals started falling only in the second part of the game. Matěj Přibyl caught a bad play by the Swiss and from the circle he aimed elusively at the left post. However, the opponent very quickly equalized in a power play. Grégory Weber skated with the puck on his stick from the blue line to the top of the right circle, from where he shot through goalkeeper Vopravil.
The tug-of-war continued at the beginning of the third period. After only twenty seconds from the opening goal, Sebastian Redlich went forward fearlessly and fired an unerring shot over the defending player into the left gallows. But the Swiss helped themselves again with a power play. Mattheo Reinhard pushed his way along the goalpost to the offensive zone, from where he cheekily headed it into the slot and equalized with a shot at the back post. The final blow came less than two minutes before the end of regulation time. The guests once again took advantage of their numerical advantage and after a successful combination, Rafael Meier decided. In the first duel at the Tournament of Five Countries in Chomutov, Switzerland wins narrowly 3:2.
Coach Patrik Augusta’s view: “Of course, we are not satisfied with the loss, the opponent was more productive, which made the decision. Not one of Switzerland’s goals was played on the power play, it wasn’t according to some formula. It was always a coincidence and our mistakes. In the first case, the puck was blocked badly, there was a lack of communication, even though we had the puck on our stick. In the second one, we let the players get going, and in the last goal, it was a lucky rebound, which was aimed exactly at the opponent’s stick, and it already went into our goal. It’s bad to score three goals in a weakened state, on the other hand, it wasn’t systemic things, but small mistakes that went in favor of the Swiss.”
CZECH REPUBLIC U20 – SWITZERLAND U20 2:3 (0:0, 1:1, 1:2)
Goals and saves: 24. Pribyl, 41. Redlich (Pérez, Holinka) – 27. Weber (Quinn, Rod), 46. Reinhard, 59. Meier (Weber, Rod)
Czech Republic U20: Vopravil (Kavan) – Galvas, Čech, Badinka, Dvořák (A), Jiříček, Prčík, Samson – Štancl, Felcman, Bareš (C) – Pérez, Holinka, Redlich – Hrabík, Senčák, Jungwirth – Plos, Přibyl, Maštalířský – Boltvan
Switzerland U20: Beglieri (Grüter) – Füllemann, Quinn, Ustinkov, Bünzli, Terraneo (A), Schneller – Wagner, Graf, Weber – Rod (A), Reinhard (C), Reber – Meier, Gredig, Kaderli – Kaser, Embacher, Lindemann
