Late comeback earned Czechia U23 valuable win against Switzerland

The opening game of Thursday's action saw the hosts taking an early lead as Vojtěch Jágr scored just one minute into the game. Switzerland managed to equalize before the end of the first period, but shortly after the opening faceoff of the middle frame, they conceded again. The final period brought immense drama. The Swiss managed to come back and were about to give Czechia a surprising blow. However, the Czechs put their head down, quickly equalized, and at 44:29, Vojtěch Jágr's second goal of the game brought pure joy and relief to the Czech faces.

Svijanska Arena 1

3-4

(1:1, 0:1, 2:2)

Switzerland U23 - Czechia U23

Penalties

3:3

PPG

1:1

SHG

0:0

Shots on goal

22:19

Goals and assists

14. Wehrli (Rohdewald, Büschi), 32. Cioffo, 41. Wehrli (Iten) – 2. Jágr (Kucharčík, Lhota), 17. Lhota (Licek, Čejka), 41. Kucharčík (Lhota), 45. Jágr (Lhota)

Referees

Vitello, Wass

Official game sheet

Switzerland U23

Chakroun (Jörg) – Fund, Iten (C), Wegmüller, Eberle, Räss, Büschi, Naga, Penzenstadler – Rohdewald, Cremer, Cioffo (A), Mballa, Vaucher, Fairclough, Tschamper, Bütikofer, Müller, Wehrli (A), Kapanek, Enzler, Lüthi.

Czechia U23

Rechtorik (Novotný) – Teinitzer, Geisler, Školoudík, Kastner, Chramosta, Kaňák, Kamenář, Laurinc (A), Kovárník – Vaniš (A), Procházka, Štěpánek, Stupka (C), Jágr, Kucharčík, Janeček, Licek, Lhota, Čejka, Macháček, Langr.

COACHES´ REACTIONS

Jiří Mašík (CZE): "We told the guys that we need to be active since the first face-off. And that's exactly what we did. We scored a quick goal. Unfortunately, then we let up. We thought it would come to us just like that. But the guys deserve a 'thank you' for the end of the game. They fought back and were hungry for the win. The opponents were also able to score from a deflected shot, but we equalized and then managed to turn the game around. We hope this will motivate us, and we'll play responsibly all 45 minutes next time.

Tibor Kapánek (SUI): "It's the worst to lose like this. You're up a goal with two or three minutes to go, and then you make two mistakes and concede to lose 4-3 with just 30 seconds on the clock. It hurts so much, but we thanked all the guys back in the locker room. They showed passion and courage, they fought... I'd say we weren't the worse team out there. The Czechs maybe didn't expect this performance from us and the game to be this close. It's a shame we didn't win or get a single point. On one hand, we're sad because of the result, however, we're also very pleased with how the guys played. If we can keep this up, the wins will eventually come."