Czechs edge Swiss in shootout

It was the Swiss that scored right off the hop, as Valentin Hofer ripped a low shot through a crowd that went through everybody at 2:18. But the Czechs tied it less than two minutes later on a bit of a lucky bounce when Pavel Matěj and Ivan Ivan battled hard for the puck down low. When Ivan tried to centre it, it hit a Swiss skate and went in. The Swiss got a couple of good chances to retake the lead through Fabian Ritzman and Mike Zaugg, but neither could finish. The teams then traded power-play chances and with the Czechs a man up, Andri Henauer stopped the original shot from Michal Gut, but Pavel Novak backhanded in the rebound.

The Czechs dominated the second period, outshooting Switzerland 15-7 over the middle frame, but it was the Swiss that scored the only two goals on similar plays off the rush. First it was Giancarlo Chanton making a brilliant move at the Czech blueline, beating a defender with the proverbial “nutmeg” move and feeding Dario Allespach, who fired it just under the crossbar. Then two minutes later it was Keanu Derungs from the left wing, beating Bednář to the near post at 25:44.

For the next 30-plus minutes, the Czechs pushed hard, and forced the Swiss to take penalties, but they just couldn’t beat Henauer, who was brilliant in the game and stopped 29 of 32 shots through 65 minutes of hockey. Tomáš Chlubna alone had three brilliant chances, but twice Henauer robbed him, and on one the Czech forward just missed with his shot.

Finally, with under two minutes to play, the Czechs beat Henauer the only way they could - by making sure he couldn’t see it. From the left point, Ondřej Baláž’s high wrister went through a forest in front of the net and over the shoulder of the Swiss goalie, who was crouched to take away the low shot.

After a scoreless and whistleless overtime period, the game was decided in a shootout. Through the first six rounds, each team scored twice. Then in the seventh, Gut scored and Bednář stopped his man to end it.