The first two winners of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland and Latvia were the Czech Republic and surprisingly the USA. The Americans defeated defending champion and host Finland 4-1.
Goal celebrations: USA celebrate after Drew O’Connor’s goal makes it 2-1 (Wednesday).
IMAGO/Newspix24
World and Olympic champions Finland had a false start at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Tampere’s 1:4 loss to the United States in the opening match of the World Cup on Friday saw a renewed tie for the title. In front of nearly 11,000 spectators, Servette Geneva’s Teemu Hardikainen (18th) was the only winner in the opening round for a second German opponent.
The American team, loaded with collegiate talent, put on a strong and above all tactically convincing performance. Boston College’s Cutter Gauthier (34′), Pittsburgh Penguins’ Drew O’Connor (50′), and Buffalo Sabers’ Alex Tuch (53′, 60′) scored on behalf of the United States.
Finland is Germany’s second World Cup opponent on Saturday. The DEB test will be against USA on Monday (3:20 pm).
Chromiak scored his first World Cup goal
In Riga, the Czech Republic secured a narrow opening win in Group B with a 3-2 win over Slovakia. All five goals came in the first three. The first goal of the 2023 World Cup was scored by Slovakian Martin Chromiak (5th), who was coached by former national coach Marco Sturm of the Los Angeles Kings farm team Ontario Reign (AHL).
The Czech Republic equalized less than two minutes later through veteran Roman Cervenka (7th). After Mislav Rosandik gave Slovakia the lead again (11′), Czech before the break in the first period. Lukas Sedlak turned the tables in favor of Finnish coach Kari Jalonen’s side with a brace in exactly five minutes (14, 19).
After the attack of the first division, the game became more tactical, and in the end the Czech narrowly won.
Canada didn’t give Latvia a chance
In the evening, the second host of the World Cup lost its first game in Group B: Latvia had no chance against co-favorite Canada 0:6. Along with Lawson Cruz scoring after 52 seconds, six different players picked up each other, including Scott Lawton (5th), Mackenzie Weiger (29th), Sammy Blais (36th), Joe Veleno (54th), and Jack McBain (56th). In the score list.
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