Czech U20 hands a nine-goal thrashing to Switzerland! Tomšík and Šmíd shine with a brace each

The Czech U20 team made a victorious entrance into the tournament. Despite a resilient performance, the Swiss couldn't prevent a devastating defeat. The Czechs started excellently in each period, denying the Swiss any chance to seize control of the game. Goals were scored by Vizváry, Černý, Bláha, Kovařík, Wróbel, and a brace from both Šmíd and Tomšík. The tournament hosts could also count on their goaltender Halouzka, who kept a clean sheet.

Svijanska Arena 1

9-0

(2:0, 2:0, 5:0)

Czechia U20 - Switzerland U20

Penalties

5:1

PPG

0:0

SHG

2:0

Shots on goal

44:11

Goals and assists

11. Vizváry (Šmíd, Hálek), 12. Černý (Matoušek), 17. Šmíd (Bláha), 19. Tomšík (Taufer), 32. Bláha (Malý), 36. Kovařík (Chovanec, Vizváry), 37. Šmíd (Wróbel), 37. Tomšík (Taufer), 41. Wróbel (Bláha)

Referees

Jeff Johnstone, Matthew Wass

Official game sheet

Czechia U20

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

Switzerland U20

Chakroun – Gisler, Alana, Joye, Beetschen, F. Huber, Spengler, Hlubek, Zurkirchen (C) – Schläppi, Zbinden, Hohl, Bütikofer, Jeanneret, Lartey, Diener, Feuz, Cancarini, Bucher, N. Huber, Zwyssig, Kälin, Wolf

COACHES´ REACTIONS

Pavel Štefka (CZE): "We are satisfied that we managed to win the first game. It's always important in any tournament. I believe that throughout the match, we had the upper hand both physically and in terms of scoring. I hope we will continue with good performances moving forward.“

Tobias Strahm (SUI): "The end result is obviously disappointing. 9:0 is hard but I would say that it‘s pretty much the reality. They’re bigger, faster, higher than us and that was the point. In the end it’s dissapointing that we didn’t score a goal. We had the chances to score multiple goals and that’s what we have to improve to the next game. We gave up a little bit too much space in the last period because our energy level was a little bit down.“