- Austria clearly missed the next surprise at the Ice Hockey World Cup against hosts the Czech Republic.
- In the other game in Group A, Great Britain is sniffing at winning its first point against its next Swiss group opponent, Denmark.
- In Group B, the USA (against Poland) and Germany (against Kazakhstan) celebrate favorite wins.
Group A
Czech Republic – Austria 4-0: One day after the sensational victory against Finland, Austria had to bake smaller rolls again at the Ice Hockey World Cup in the Czech Republic. Roger Bader’s team started the final third against the hosts with a 0-3 deficit after conceding two goals when they were outnumbered in the middle period. Unlike against Canada and the Finns, this time they were far from a comeback. On the contrary: After David Tomasek’s 4-0 win, the Austrians seemed to be a little out of sorts. The Czechs managed their lead confidently, cheered on by euphoric home fans, and can already plan for the quarter-finals after their 4th win in their 5th game.
Great Britain – Denmark 3:4: Newly promoted Great Britain is now waiting to win its first point at this World Cup after the 4th game. In Prague, the British lost to Denmark 3-4 in a close game that was evenly balanced for a long time. The winning goal for the Danes, opponents of the Swiss national team on Saturday, came 8 minutes before the end. The game started spectacularly: After the British had taken the lead through Liam Kirk (6th), Denmark responded immediately with a double strike (7th/9th) before Cade Neilson (11th) was able to equalize the score again.
Group B
Poland – USA 1:4: The USA celebrated a mandatory victory, although they were clearly superior to the newly promoted team, but were only able to open the score after half an hour. With aggressive forechecking, the Poles made life difficult for the favorites, especially in the first third, but as the game continued, the Eastern Europeans’ strength dwindled somewhat. Michael Kesselring (31st), Brady Tkachuk (40th) and Cole Caufield (42nd/50th) scored the goals for the USA. If you look at the shooting ratio of 57:21, the Americans’ victory should have been higher.
Germany – Kazakhstan 8:2: Germany took a big step towards the quarter-finals in Ostrava with their 3rd win in their 5th game. It was already 2-0 against Kazakhstan after 2:24 minutes. The underdog managed to score the next goal in the first power play (8th), but Harold Kreis’ team added three goals in the middle period, as they did later in the final third. Already after the 3-1 by JJ Peterka, who scored his third World Cup goal of this year’s tournament with a strong individual performance, the Kazakh keeper Andrei Shutov made way in favor of Nikita Boyarkin. Lukas Reichel, Philipp Kurashev’s teammate at the Blackhawks, scored two goals on his 22nd birthday.