Czech para hockey players entered the WC with a win. Canada, USA and China shot each other | Hokej.cz

The Czech para hockey players entered the world championship in Calgary, Canada victoriously, confirming their role as favorites against Italy and defeating them 4:1. Václav Hečko, Alex Ohar, Pavel Doležal and Filip Veselý gradually established themselves.

“Until now, it was always us who looked at the other teams’ backs and wanted to catch up with them, but now we are in this position of being hunted,” coach Jakub Novotný said before the start of the tournament.

The Czech fighters vigorously defended the historic bronze medal. Václav Hečko put them in the lead after just 39 seconds, Alex Ohar followed up on him before the break and Pavel Doležal increased the lead to three goals at 26:06.

Martin Kudela only had five shooting attempts, but Nils Larch took the clean sheet from him with a power shot. Any drama was soon rejected by Filip Veselý, who put his stamp on the Czech victory 4:1.

“We have had a decent entry. It’s good that we played on the disc and didn’t allow the Italians to enter our zone too much. Just a shame about the conceded goal. We got him in a weakened position, when we couldn’t throw the puck away in the middle zone and they got outnumbered,” Novotný assesses.

If not for the excellent Santino Stillitan, the score difference could have been even higher. The Italian goalkeeper caught 28 Czech shots.

For the second time, the national team will present itself in Calgary already on Monday morning. From 4:30, his opponent will be Japan, which initially suffered a 0:19 debacle from host Canada.

“We will want to enter the match just as actively, forecheck and give the opponent as little time as possible on the puck. We had 32 shots against Italy, which is quite a lot in para hockey. One in eight of us fell there. I hope we will improve, because better teams won’t let us have so many shots and chances,” the Czech coach realizes.

The opening day of the game also brought double-digit results in Group A – the Americans first turned ten against the Slovaks, and then the Chinese repeated their feat in the Asian match against South Korea.

Results – Group B:

ITALY – CZECH REPUBLIC 1:4 (0:2, 0:1, 1:1)
Goals and saves: 39. Larch (Depaoli) – 1. Hečko (Žižlavský), 15. Ohar (Kubeš, Veselý), 27. Doležal (Zelinka), 41. Veselý.
Referee: Webinger (Canada) – Hermansen Oswold, Norum Ripel (both Norway).
Exclusion: 3:2.
Use: 1:0.
Shots on goal: 5:32 am.
Italy: Stillitano – Antochi, Macri, Cavaliere, Enderle – Depaoli, Lanza, Andreoni, Torella, Larch, Kafmann, Radice, Marnini, Rosa. Coach: Bianchi.
Czechia: Kudela – Doležal, Kubeš, Vrubel, Zelinka, Wágner, Ohar – Sedláček, Geier, Veselý, Hábl, Palát, Hečko, M. Novotný, Kapko, Žižlavský. Coach: J. Novotný.

JAPAN – CANADA 0:19 (0:10, 0:8, 0:1)

Results – Group A:

SLOVAKIA – USA 0:10 (0:3, 0:3, 0:4)
SOUTH KOREA – CHINA 0:10 (0:1, 0:8, 0:1)

Another program of the 2024 Para Hockey World Cup

Sunday, May 5:
18:00 Slovakia – China (Group A)
21:30 USA – South Korea (Group A)

Monday, May 6:
01:00 Canada – Italy (Group B)
04:30 Japan – Czech Republic (Group B)

Tuesday, May 7:
18:00 South Korea – Slovakia (Group A)
21:30 China – USA (Group A)

Wednesday, May 8:
01:00 Czech Republic – Canada (Group B)
04:30 Italy – Japan (Group B)

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