Bronze medal game: Czech Republic - Switzerland

Old rivals meet again in the fight for the bronze medal. Hopefully the Swiss team has recovered from their very bitter defeat against Sweden after such a good game. We were in order to expect an exceptionally exciting and adrenaline-charged game. Czech Republic with their defeat by Finland still fresh on their mind was also determined to inflict the same treatment to the Swiss and took their second medal ever with a 9-3 win.

Despite of the historical statistics pleading for Switzerland, both teams were not going to let each other have their way so easily. 

First period

The period was tight, but not really intensive in terms of determinations and fighting spirit. The shock of yesterday game was still present in The Swiss players mind. Although both teams seemed to avoid each other, Czech tried numerous goal attempts, accurate passes, wise shots at the opponent goal. By now, most spectators were on the edge of their seats. With such a goalless score line, the period was far to be interesting.

Second period

The match got really intense and heated up when Milan Fridrich assisted by Ondrej Fojta scored the opening goal for the Czech Republic at 21:54 .  The Swiss fought hard and three minutes later found their footing with, Simon Stucki goal, bringing the score to 1-1.  Mathias Hofbauer assisted by his brother Christoph, scored not too long after to put Switzerland in the lead. At that moment no one was expecting to see the Czech come back. At the 29:28 minutes, Armin Brunner for Switzerland was penalized two minutes for blocking the stick. With Czech having the numerical advantage, they embarked on a power play. Assisted by Milan Tomasik, Tomas Chrapek who was arguably the most valuable Czech player found the net at the 33:37 minutes giving his team the possibility to take a slide lead. 20 seconds before the end, the same Chrapek Tomas made a goal of his own, ending the period at 4-2.

Third period

With two goals ahead, Czech Republic came back even stronger than in the second period. The amount of   goals scored in this period,  was just the testimony of the Czech team strength and determination to win. Their opening goal came less than one minute after the beginning. Seemingly unsatisfied with just one goal, they kept on scoring forcing the Swiss to make many incorrect hits. At this level it was clear and obvious that the Swiss team has not yet recovered from their lost. At the final whistle, Czech Republic was one of the award winners in this WFC.

Author: Alain Atangana