According to Finnish defender Jukurit Mikkeli, the first period gave the game its impetus. “When you lose 0:2 against the Finns, it’s difficult. They scored two quick goals and it’s hard to score against them. Such an experienced team, when they’re in the lead, they take care of it. We were in a bit of a convulsion,” Zábranský told reporters after match in Malmö.
“You could see the grace in them while the pucks bounced off us. They even scored lucky goals, after a rebound from a defender. A stupid game, I’d say. There’s nothing to do but grind it out, it’s a short tournament, we have another game tomorrow and we have to start differently, ” said the son of assistant coach of the national team, Libor Zábranský.
Photo: Andreas Hillergren, CTK/AP
Czech forward Ondřej Beránek in action with Finnish opponents at the Swedish Hockey Games.Photo: Andreas Hillergren, CTK/AP
At the same time, according to the twenty-two-year-old student of Kometa Brno, the beginning was not bad. “They have an experienced team. We knew it, they were preparing for it. We didn’t start badly, but then we got two goals from overcounting and then we pushed it uphill,” said Zábranský. “It’s not pleasant when you want to do something about it and they immediately score a goal. Unfortunately, it was like that, we didn’t show what we wanted at all. And we got a well-deserved lesson for that,” he continued.
The Czech team managed to stop the rampaging Finns at least in the third period, which they started at 0:6. “It’s never pleasant, but that’s hockey, there are also matches like that. It shouldn’t happen in tournaments like this, but it’s another experience. We told ourselves that we have to seize the third period and try to do something about it, start winning fights and at least take something positive from it. We partially succeeded in that,” stated Zábranský.
His father, alongside coach Kari Jalonen, suffered an equally heavy 1-6 defeat just last May in the World Cup semi-final against Canada in Tampere. “Positives are very few and hard to find. But at least we won the third period 1-0. We have to bounce back from that somehow, it’s an unpleasant result, but we have another match ahead of us. We have to look at it, we will have a meeting. We have to bounce back from the third period, which we won, and start tomorrow completely differently,” added Zábranský.
