- Austria beat Norway 4-1 in the “Swiss Group” at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague.
- In Group B, Latvia kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals with a dramatic 3-2 win over Slovakia after a penalty shootout. USA defeated Kazakhstan 10:1.
Group A
Norway – Austria 1:4: Austria celebrated a surprisingly clear victory in Group A in a head-to-head clash. With a double strike within 40 seconds, Austria went 2-0 up through Peter Sneijder in the 29th minute and Dominik Zwerger in the middle third, with Sneijder scoring a double before the second siren in the 34th minute. Sander Engbreton brought the tension back with 1:3 in the closing stages. An empty-netter by Mario Huber in the 58th minute sealed the win for Austria. With the win, Austria moved level on points with Finland, albeit with a game in hand.
Purana:
Celebrating his teammate's 3-0 win
Paul Huber.
imago pictures/justpictures.ch
Group B
Slovakia – Latvia 2:3 nP: After 58:16 minutes everything was ready. Slovakia lead 2-1 and advance to the quarter-finals with their 5th win in a row. After the Slovaks trailed 0-1 in the first period, it became a 2-1 score in the third period – former Zuk player Petar Cehlarik took the lead with 104 seconds left. But Latvia's Oscar Sibulskis equalized in 24 seconds.
In overtime, Latvia could not score despite 2 power plays and few shots. The Latvians finally found their luck in the penalty shootout, a first in Group B. Dans Lokmelis finished as the 13th (!) shooter. In general, both teams played briskly with 43 (!) shots each in 70 minutes.
With the win, Latvia is in 5th place, but can advance to the quarter finals with 3 points while Slovakia also got nil against Sweden in their last game against USA.
USA – Kazakhstan 10:1: In the 6th group match, the American star team taught Kazakhstan a lesson. Down 4 goals early, the game was decided early on, but the US didn't let up and went for it in the next three. At the end of the game, the verdict was given with a score of 10:1. Captain Brady Tkachuk was the big man for the Americans, recording a power play hat trick (8th/19th/46th) and 4 points with an assist. Kazakhstan scored a consolation goal in the final third.
Ice Hockey World Championship in Czech Republic
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