Czech Republic beats Sweden to take part in final
After a 6–3 win in the group stage, Team Czech Republic beat Sweden again in semi-final, 8-4. Although Tre Kronor scored first, the home team dominated the rest of the game and reached the final. The Czechs were led offensively by Karel Rachunek, Jan Besser and Jiri Polansky, with 3 points each.
| Game no. 38 • aSF • Fri 24/6/2011 • 18:00 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Sweden |
4:8 |  Czech Republic |
| (2:2, 0:1, 0:2, 2:3) | ||
| Idoff - Svensson, Bergman, Berglund, Nilsson - Bejmo, Brolin, Olsson, Luukkonen - Myren, Torgersson, Hoglund, Thellberg - Lilja, Djerf. | Handl - Mojzis, Kames, Tenkrat, Koudelka - Rachunek, Demel, Broz, Vozdecky - Sebek, Strycek, Polansky, Besser - Vlcek, Curik. | |
| Goals and assists: 1. Bejmo (Brolin, Luukkonen), 9. Olsson (Nilsson), 37. Hoglund (Svensson, Nilsson), 44. Svensson (Olsson) - 4. Vozdecky (Rachunek, Demel), 8. Koudelka (Rachunek), 17. Besser (Polansky), 31. Polansky (Besser), 35. Besser (Polansky), 43. Vozdecky, 47. Rachunek, 48. Tenkrat | ||
| Shots: 22:35
(7:12, 2:10, 2:7, 11:6).
Penalties: 5:4.
PP goals: 2:0.
SH goals: 0:0. Refferees: Kuloaro (FIN), Dreger (USA). |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
The Swedes scored the first goal early in the first minute, when Emil Benjo scored a lucky goal. Kames fired a shot at the post, then Martin Vozdecky tied the game from the face-off circle. Team Czech Republic led for a short time after a goal by Martin Koudelka, but Simon Olsson scored on a two-on-one rush and the game was equal again.
Jan Besser scored to increase the Czech lead and then Jiri Polansky beat Sebastian Idoff again. Jan Besser then scored his second goal of the game to give his team a 5-2 lead.
In last quarter, Henrik Hoglund beat Roman Handl on the power-play and Tre Kronor was back in the game. But there were no worries for the Czech colours, as Martin Vozdecky scored shortly afterward to restore the three-goal advantage.
Andres Svensson scored a power-play goal again, but it was too late for Sweden. Goalie Idoff denied Rachunek`s goal by throwing his stick, for which the referees awarded the Czechs their seventh goal. Just 12 seconds before the final horn, Petr Tenkrat completed the score sheet.
“This game was much more difficult than in the group, which we expected. We were the luckier team,“ said Jan Besser.
Author: Stepan Toms
Game reactions
Fredrik Skoog (Team Sweden coach):
It is very difficult to play against four Czech players and two referees. They were very bad. I don´t know, maybe they were in a nightclub yesterday. I don´t understand how the attacks against our goalkeeper went unpunished. Otherwise, it was a very good game with two strong teams. The Czech Republic is a great team, but we were able to match them and make things difficult for them, especially in the first half.
Petr Hemsky (Team Czech Republic coach):
I am satisfied with our performance. The better the Swedish are, the more glad we are to beat them. I think the referees were objective today. By that, I mean they are not the reason Sweden lost.
