International Ice Hockey Federation

Czechs dominate Danes

Czechs dominate Danes

Najman the man with five points

Published 14.09.2016 00:06 GMT+11 | Author Lucas Aykroyd
Czechs dominate Danes
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA - APRIL 18: Team Czech Republic enjoys their national anthem after a 9-2 victory over Denmark during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. (Photo by Matt Zambonin/HHOF-IIHF Images)
With a 9-2 victory on Monday night, the Czech Republic sent Denmark to the relegation round of the 2016 IIHF World U18 Championship to face Latvia.

Apparently very little has changed since these two nations last clashed at the U18. The Czechs also beat Denmark 9-2 in 2014. (The first meeting was in 2012, an 8-4 Czech victory.)

Ondrej Najman paced the Czech attack with two goals and three assists. Matyas Kanter added two goals, and Pavel Kousal had three assists. All in all, 13 Czech skaters had at least one point.

Even with nine goals, lack of power play production could be a concern for the Czechs. The Danes took six minors, but every Czech goal came at even strength.

Kanter was the only scorer in the first period, played on relatively even terms. Denmark’s Daniel Nielsen tied it up one minute into the second.

However, the Czechs struck right back with goals 40 seconds apart by Daniel Kurovsky and Najman. They ran away with it in the third period, rendering Joachim Blichfeldt’s 5-on-3 goal with under six minutes to play meaningless.

Newly promoted Denmark has lost four straight games and needs to find its form pronto.

The Czechs will jockey with neighbouring Slovakia for quarter-final seeding in their round-robin finale on Tuesday night. Denmark’s first relegation game against Latvia is on Thursday.

 

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