Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Czechs knock off Austria

Press Release

REGINA – In a battle of two teams both seeking their first World Junior win, the Czech Republic scored five power play goals to defeat Austria 7-1. Austria must beat Finland on Wednesday to keep its hopes of avoiding the Relegation Round alive.

Vladimir Roth paced the Czech attack with a goal and three assists, while Andrej Nestrasil and Tomas Kubalik added a goal and two helpers apiece. Tomas Knotek, Stepan Novotny, Robert Kousal and David Ostrizek also scored. Dominique Heinrich replied for Austria.

"It was a pretty good game," Roth said. "Five goals on the PP is good. We controlled the puck well and had speed in the offensive zone."

“The game was a big opportunity for us to get points, but unfortunately we had a worse performance than against Russia and Sweden," said Heinrich, the Austrian captain. “We thought that we could keep up with them and that we had to control the game. This killed us in the end."

Newly promoted Austria has appeared in only two previous top-level U20 championships (1981, 2004), and has been a fan favourite at the Brandt Centre despite going winless. Here, the Czechs, looking more poised and patient than they have in any other game, prevailed with their skills.

Czech goalie Jakub Sedlacek got the win over his busy Austrian counterpart Lorenz Hirn, as the Czechs outshot Austria 56-22.

"Today, we had nothing left in the tank," said Austrian defenceman Stefan Ulmer.

The Austrians started off with a gritty defensive display in the first period, clearly inspired by their better-than-expected outings against Russia and Sweden. Rarely did a Czech player pick up the puck without an Austrian on him like a tight pair of lederhosen.

But that simply wouldn't last, due to Austria's poor performance on the penalty kill.

With 5:39 left in the first, Knotek opened the scoring for the Czechs on the power play, sending a laser wrister over Hirn's glove off a faceoff.

The Austrians responded just over a minute later to make it 1-1. Dominique Heinrich batted in a rebound following a right-wing rush.

The Czechs regained the lead at 3:27 of the second after some nice passing with the man advantage, as Novotny stepped in from the faceoff circle and lifted a close-range wrister past Hirn.

Another power play marker put the Czechs up 3-1 at 11:58. Roth fired a shot from the high slot that eluded a down-and-out Hirn scrambling to get back into position.

With just seven seconds left in the middle frame, there was more Czech PP chemistry. Nestrasil smartly converted a cross-ice pass down low to make it 4-1.

"In the game against Finland [a 4-3 loss], we slowed down a bit in the middle of the game," Nestrasil said. "Today, we kept doing the same things and didn't give up. It was perfect."

Hirn made a fine save on a Kubalik breakaway early in the third, and then foiled Tomas Vincour on a 2-on-1. But he couldn't prevent Kubalik from flipping home the fifth Czech goal on the rush midway through the third. Kousal and Ostrizek added late goals to round out the scoring at 7-1.

“The game was a big opportunity for us to get points, but unfortunately we had a worse performance than against Russia and Sweden," said Heinrich, the Austrian captain. “We thought that we could keep up with them and that we had to control the game. This killed us in the end."

The Czechs finish off their Preliminary Round versus traditional rival Russia on New Year's Eve.

"We must play the same as today," Roth said. "Keep the PP going, skate hard, and shoot hard."

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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