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The opening night of the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup concluded with a dominant effort from the host Czech team and a 3-0 victory over Switzerland. Jan Špunar made 20 saves for the shutout.
Penalties: 2:2. PP goals: 1:0. SH goals: 0:0.
Referees: Hejduk, Šindel - Klouček, Špůr. Attendance: 1128.
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The Czechs got the game’s first power play at 10:31 and went right to work, taking all of 31 seconds to cash in. Matěj Prčík feathered a pass right into Jiří Kulich’s wheelhouse and the Czech captain made no mistake, one-timing a blast over Diego Simeoni’s glove and then celebrating as the home fans cheered.
They went up 2-0 late in the period when the Swiss were unable to clear the zone, with Eduard Šalé knocking down a clearing attempt with his glove. He then passed to František Němec, whose shot was nicely re-directed in front by Dominik Petr.
After the Czechs dominated the first period, both in terms of possession and shots on goal (14-4), the Swiss had a couple of power-play chances in the second and had some good zone time but only got one really great chance with a loose puck around the Czech net that neither Alessandro Lirati nor Grégory Weber could stuff in. And when Adam Bareš made it 3-0 with three minutes to play in the period – trailing the play and taking a feed from Marek Soukup, then beating Simeoni with a low wrister – the Swiss had a huge mountain to climb.
In the last minute of the middle frame, Julien Rod had a chance to get Switzerland on the board before the horn on a partial breakaway but Špunar just got a piece of his arm on the shot.
In the third period, the Swiss were more aggressive and outshot the Czechs 9-5, but the Czechs did a good job of defending and were disciplined in doing so, so that most of the Swiss chances were not very dangerous. They held on for the shutout and were serenaded by their fans, who were finally able to watch them play in person again after two long years.
Reactions
Jakub Petr (head coach, Team Czech Republic): “Part of the game went according to plan. First of all, we’re glad that we won, but there were parts where we as coaches cannot be satisfied. Over the course of the season, we’ll work on those parts of our game, but we’re 50 percent satisfied. Because of the fans who created a great atmosphere, there was a lot of pressure on the boys, so I'm glad how they did it today. We will go into tomorrow’s game against Finland with humility and respect, but I believe that we will be able to surprise them and build on today's victory.”
Marcel Jenni (head coach, Team Switzerland): “We had a slow start and the Czechs are a really fast team. We gave them too much space and they used it pretty well. But then we played with more courage and more physical and I think at the end of the game we were the better team, but we couldn’t capitalize on our chances so we have to be much more efficient. I don’t think the Russians are so much better than the Czechs, so if we have a good start and play like we finished today’s game, we have a chance for sure. It’s going back to normal hockey and the young guys like playing in front of fans. The fans here were great.”