Czechia U20 defeated Slovaks. Rematch to follow in semifinals

It was clear Czech and Slovak U20s would face each other again in the semifinals no matter the result, but that didn't take anything from the game. Both teams went into the game full-on, three goals were scored in the first six minutes with the Czechs getting one more over their opponents thanks to strikes by Richard Vizváry and Matyáš Bláha. The latter added another goal in the second period, and the two-goal lead proved unreachable for the Slovaks who stayed behind for the remainder of the game, despite their best efforts especially just after the second intermission. In the end, Czechia beat Slovakia 6-4 and clinched second place in the U20 standings.

Home Credit Arena

6-4

(2:1, 2:0, 2:3)

Czechia U20 - Slovakia U20

Penalties

9:10

PPG

4:3

SHG

0:0

Shots on goal

37:19

Goals and assists

3. Vizváry, 6. Bláha (Macek), 23. Bláha (Korbel), 29. Tomšík (Taufer), 39. Korbel (Bláha, Macek), 41. Bečka (Kovařík) – 5. Sagan (Hrivnák, Danielčák), 32. Bartakovics (Siakeľ), 34. Hrivnák (Siakeľ, Bartakovics), 43. Hrivnák (Bartakovics)

Referees

Trevor Jarvis, Matthew Wass

Official game sheet

Czechia U20

Křemenák – Bečka, Kovařík, Krejčí, Matoušek, Pavlík, Dostál, Korbel, Hálek – Černý, Wróbel, Hroch, Macek, Šmíd, Taufer, Malý, Tomšík, Kábrt, Jelen, Lhota, Chovanec, Vizváry.

Slovakia U20

Hrubovský (27. Kundrát) – Mešár, Knapík, Šulík, Sakal, Tulaev, Šarluška, Mišák, Dvořák, Rábek – Danielčák, Král, Gugh, Brejčák, Siakeľ, Balát, Šatka, Badalov, Hrivnák, Šamaj, Gríger, Lipták, Bartakovics.

COACHES´ REACTIONS

Karel Manhart (CZE): "Yesterday, we had a tough day. We had a morning practice, then we had lunch and a meeting. We managed to calm down a bit and prepared for the match in a way that we could secure three points today, and we succeeded, so I'm glad about that. It was a bit heated because it's a derby. Derbies are always intense, but it was important for us to win after yesterday."

Michal Salajka (SVK): "A very interesting match. Although we lost, I think it showed us a lot of things that we need to work on and carry into tomorrow's important match. Definitely a more crucial match than today's. So we have things to work on, and most importantly, we have a foundation to build on, so it's all open."