Czech Para Hockey Players Advance to Medal Match at WC in Canada

Czech para hockey players will play for a medal at the WC in Moose Jaw, Canada! In the key quarter-final battle, they beat Italy clearly 4:0, and in the semi-final they will face the home team, the match is scheduled for Sunday morning from 3:00 CET.

The Czechs went to the event excited after two days off, which they also enjoyed by shopping, feeding groundhogs or swimming in the icy Buffalo Pound Lake.

From the opening minutes, they then confirmed who was the favorite on the ice. They outshot their opponents 33:4, but for a long time they were looking for a recipe for the attentive Italian defense led by the great goalkeeper Araud.

They broke the opponent’s resistance until the end of the middle twenty minutes, when they scored three goals in 101 seconds. First, Zdeněk Hábl took advantage of Ohar’s skillful passes, then Pavel Kubeš finished off the Czech combination, and finally Michal Geier shone with a great individual action in the weakening.

The same player then prepared a fuse for captain Radek Zelinka in the third period. The Italians did not show much in the attack, Martin Kudela recorded the second zero in the tournament. It only took him four interventions.

The Czechs returned last year’s defeat from the Olympics in Beijing to the Southern Europeans with interest, when they lost 3:4 in overtime in the match for fifth place. But since then, they have made huge progress, which they are fully showing in Canada. The great mood in the team also contributes to this.

“In the time I’ve been with the national team, he’s really the best. Everyone is fired up, everyone is going hard for victory, they don’t miss a single preparation for the match, and it looks like that on the ice as well,” confirms forward Václav Hečko.

In the semifinals, a pair of hockey players, hosted by Canada, is waiting, which they managed to torment already in the group. Despite the 1:2 defeat, they played the best match in history with the overseas giant. Now they will try for an even better result on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

The meeting is scheduled from 3:00 CET. The Americans, who will challenge China, will play the semi-finals four hours earlier. In the second, purely Asian quarter-final, they beat South Korea 7-2.

The result of the quarter-finals of the Czech para hockey players at the WC in Canada:

CZECH REPUBLIC – ITALY 4:0 (0:0, 3:0, 1:0)

Goals and saves: 26. Hábl (Ohar), 26. Kubeš (Doležal), 27. Geier, 39. Zelinka (Geier).
Referee: Danielsen (Norway) – Hus (Slovenia), Niittylä (Finland).
Exclusion: 2:3.
No use.
In weakening: 1:0.
Shots on goal: 33:4.
The best players: Zdeněk Hábl – Andrea Macri.
Czechia: Kudela – Kubeš, Doležal, Zelinka, Wágner – Hečko, Geier, Sedláček, Novotný, Ohar, Veselý, Hábl, Žižlavský, Vrubel. Coach: Novotny.
Italy: Araudo –⁠ Macri, Enderle, Radice, Balossetti – Kafmann, Larch, Antochi, Depaoli, Remotti Marnini, Andreoni, Torella. Coach: Bianchi.

Second quarter-final result

SOUTH KOREA – CHINA 2:7 (1:5, 0:0, 1:2)
Goals and saves: 6. Jung (Jang), 37. Cho – 3. Cui (Shen), 8. Shen, 9. Wang (Zhu), 12. Li (Hu, Cui), 15. Tian (Shen), 42. Li (Zhu ), 45. Tian (Cui).

Another playoff schedule

Saturday, June 3:
19:00 Germany – Norway (for 7th place)
23:00 USA – China (semi-finals)

Sunday June 4:
03:00 Canada – Czech Republic (semi-finals)
19:00 South Korea – Italy (for 5th place)
23:00 for 3rd place

Monday June 5:
03:00 final

Note: The start of the match is given in Czech time, in Canada it is eight hours earlier.

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