IIHF world championships: Czech Republic humble outgoing champions Finland 3-2 to claim bronze-NHL News
The Czech Republic humbled the outgoing champions of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world championships, Finland, 3-2, to clinch the bronze medal in the tournament.
Czechs unleashed their attack on the opponents from the start of the game and went on to score three goals in the first period.
Goaltender, Jakub Stepanek, then held back the late attack by the co-host of the event, Finns, with a total 34 saves to secure the victory.
Petr Prucha, who has played two seasons, 2009-2010, as a right wing for the Phoenix Coyotes in the National Hockey League (NHL), opened the score for Czechs by a goal into 13th minute of the first period.
Finns were able to tie through a goal from centre, Mika Pyorala, into 17th minute of the period. It took Czechs only 29 seconds to regain the lead with a goal by centre, Jiri Novotny.
Another goal by Boston Bruins’ centre, David Krejci, into the last minute of the period gave the Czechs the lead of two goals with the score at 3-1.
Finland were able to score another goal in the second period of the game to finish off the score at 3-2, but their successive attacks did not shake Stepanek.
This ended Finns’ hopes for the bronze after the team had lost on the opportunity to retain the gold for another year. Russia won the championships by beating Slovakia 6-2 to claim the gold.
Finns’ loss was particularly rueful as it had happened on their home ice. They could not benefit from the home-ice advantage.
It is for the second time that Czechs have won the bronze within the span of a couple of years. They won the medal last time in Germany in 2010.
Czechs’ performance was far better than some other teams like Team USA and Canada, let alone Finland, who had come into the event with odds heavily in their favour.
As many as 16 teams took part in the championships, co-hosted by Sweden and Finland.
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