Atlanta Thrashers’ Ondrej Pavelec gives United States a tough time and wins the game for Czech Republic
Goalkeeper of Atlanta Thrashers, Ondrej Pavelec, had a very uncertain start to the National Hockey League season this time out as he was making some very uncharacteristic mistakes.
The season ended for Thrashers on the same note and it was truly one of those seasons where the franchise and the goalkeeper went through numerous ups and downs.
However, it looks as if Pavelec has quickly been able to forget the past as he has been absolutely superb in the IIHF World Championships so far that are taking place in Slovakia.
Pavelec has done pretty well during the course of the Championships so far. In the last and most recent game that was the quarterfinal against U.S.A, he made 29 saves for Czech Republic.
The game ended with the Czechs winning by 4-0 and also getting its second shutout win during the Championships so far.
Admit it or not, but Pavelec has played a very important role in the Czech’s run during the championships so far. He has started in six out of seven games so far and maintains an excellent 0.955 saves percentage thus far.
"He has given our team a lot of confidence", teammate, Lukas Krajicek, said. "We know if there's a mistake, he'll make most the saves".
Pavelec has surely grabbed a spot for himself in the national team. However, this has been hard coming as he was on the bench for the team during the 2010 Olympics.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt as to who will be in the starting line-up when the semifinal against Sweden kicks off this Friday.
Pavelec had a poor start to the season that saw him knocked down in the first game of the season against Washington Capitals.
He was knocked down and then had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. However, he was stable and quickly regained consciousness and ever since that time he has been quite well.
Atlanta Thrashers started to bag some impressive performances in the middle of the season that saw Pavelec outperforming all his competitors.
This resulted in Thrashers even leading the Southeast Division one time over Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Unfortunately, it was unable to carry the momentum into the second part of the season and witnessed not even making its way into the playoffs.
"There were a few games that Ondrej and Chris stole for us before the All-Star break", Thrashers’ teammate, Ramsay, said. "There were games where we got outshot and outchanced or had some breakdowns early in the game, and our goalies were there for us".
He will definitely play a very important role in the Czech’s run as they look to win the IIHF World Championships once again this year.
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