The Czech Republic completed group play by hammering Switzerland 6-3 on Sunday. The Swiss finish fourth in Group B and will face Canada in the quarter-finals.
The Czechs pounded Swiss goalie Philip Wuthrich, outshooting their opponents 60-31.
The result leaves the Czechs in second place in Group B, pending the outcome of the last game between Russia and Sweden. The Russians can overtake the Czechs with a regulation-time win over Sweden.
With an 18-15 goal difference, the Czechs are continuing to fill the net -- they clicked twice with the man advantage versus the Swiss -- but also have some question marks defensively as they seek their first World Junior medal since 2005's bronze.
Switzerland has never beaten Canada in 21 tries in World Junior competition. The last encounter on 29 December, 2015 was close, with Canada prevailing 3-2 in a shootout in Helsinki.
Kristian Reichel paced this Czech victory with two goals. and Martin Necas, Martin Kaut, and Daniel Kurovsky had a goal and an assist apiece. Jakub Lauko also scored, and Libor Hajek added two assists.
Ken Jager, Dario Rohrbach, and Elia Riva replied for Switzerland.
The wide-open first period saw the Czechs outshoot Switzerland 22-14. It took just 2:38 for the Czechs to get rolling. Coming down left wing, Lauko tried to slide a pass in front to Kurovsky, but when Wuthrich bobbled the rebound, Lauko swooped in to tuck it around the fallen netminder.
Just 13 seconds later, the Swiss struck back. Jager surprised Czech starter Jakub Skarek with a quick shot over the glove from the left faceoff circle.
At 11:07, Necas made it 2-1 in a wacky sequence. Kaut put it off the inside of Wuthrich’s left post, and the goalie cleared it away, only to have Necas lift it past him from the high slot seconds later.
In the second period, Reichel, the son of Czech legend Robert Reichel, made it 2-1 at 2:11. Radovan Pavlik intercepted the puck from defenceman Davyd Barandun inside the Swiss blue line and dipsy-doodled toward the net before backhanding a pass to Reichel, who scored with a high backhand.
This time the Swiss had an even quicker reply – nine seconds later. Rohrbach burst down right wing and beat Skarek cleanly on the glove side.
At 3:55, the Swiss made it 3-3 on the power play as Riva’s rising wrister from the center point eluded Skarek through traffic.
Looking for a momentum-changer, Czech coach Filip Pesan replaced Skarek with Josef Korenar, but that didn’t immediately inspire his team to tighten up defensively. Moments later, Switzerland’s Guillaume Maillard hit the post on a clean breakaway
Kaut made it 4-3 for the Czechs at 8:38 as he finished off a pretty three-way passing rush by sliding it through Wuthrich.
In the third period, the Czechs enjoyed a 22-8 shots edge. Kurovsky forced a Swiss turnover and rushed in, got the puck back from Petr Kodytek, and zipped the 5-3 marker home at 7:46.
With about six minutes remaining, Lauko was shaken up in a collision with two Swiss players and skated off with the help of his teammates.
With 2:20 left, Reichel put the icing on the cake as the assistant captain busted to the net and scored on a backhand move to make it 6-3.
The Swiss have won three quarter-finals all-time. In 1998 in Finland, Bjorn Christen’s 2-1 shootout winner against Sweden put them on the road to bronze. In 2002 in the Czech Republic, Sven Helfenstein got the winner in another shootout, 3-2 over Sweden, and the Swiss wound up losing the bronze medal game to Finland. And in 2010 in Canada, Nino Niederreiter famously notched the last-minute tying goal and the overtime winner versus Russia en route to a fourth-place finish.
Swiss defenceman Dominik Egli was listed on the roster but did not participate in the game due to a hand injury. The 19-year-old World Junior rookie, who has played for Kloten and Winterthur this season, averaged 20:51 in his team’s first three games.
LUCAS AYKROYD
The Czechs pounded Swiss goalie Philip Wuthrich, outshooting their opponents 60-31.
The result leaves the Czechs in second place in Group B, pending the outcome of the last game between Russia and Sweden. The Russians can overtake the Czechs with a regulation-time win over Sweden.
With an 18-15 goal difference, the Czechs are continuing to fill the net -- they clicked twice with the man advantage versus the Swiss -- but also have some question marks defensively as they seek their first World Junior medal since 2005's bronze.
Switzerland has never beaten Canada in 21 tries in World Junior competition. The last encounter on 29 December, 2015 was close, with Canada prevailing 3-2 in a shootout in Helsinki.
Kristian Reichel paced this Czech victory with two goals. and Martin Necas, Martin Kaut, and Daniel Kurovsky had a goal and an assist apiece. Jakub Lauko also scored, and Libor Hajek added two assists.
Ken Jager, Dario Rohrbach, and Elia Riva replied for Switzerland.
The wide-open first period saw the Czechs outshoot Switzerland 22-14. It took just 2:38 for the Czechs to get rolling. Coming down left wing, Lauko tried to slide a pass in front to Kurovsky, but when Wuthrich bobbled the rebound, Lauko swooped in to tuck it around the fallen netminder.
Just 13 seconds later, the Swiss struck back. Jager surprised Czech starter Jakub Skarek with a quick shot over the glove from the left faceoff circle.
At 11:07, Necas made it 2-1 in a wacky sequence. Kaut put it off the inside of Wuthrich’s left post, and the goalie cleared it away, only to have Necas lift it past him from the high slot seconds later.
In the second period, Reichel, the son of Czech legend Robert Reichel, made it 2-1 at 2:11. Radovan Pavlik intercepted the puck from defenceman Davyd Barandun inside the Swiss blue line and dipsy-doodled toward the net before backhanding a pass to Reichel, who scored with a high backhand.
This time the Swiss had an even quicker reply – nine seconds later. Rohrbach burst down right wing and beat Skarek cleanly on the glove side.
At 3:55, the Swiss made it 3-3 on the power play as Riva’s rising wrister from the center point eluded Skarek through traffic.
Looking for a momentum-changer, Czech coach Filip Pesan replaced Skarek with Josef Korenar, but that didn’t immediately inspire his team to tighten up defensively. Moments later, Switzerland’s Guillaume Maillard hit the post on a clean breakaway
Kaut made it 4-3 for the Czechs at 8:38 as he finished off a pretty three-way passing rush by sliding it through Wuthrich.
In the third period, the Czechs enjoyed a 22-8 shots edge. Kurovsky forced a Swiss turnover and rushed in, got the puck back from Petr Kodytek, and zipped the 5-3 marker home at 7:46.
With about six minutes remaining, Lauko was shaken up in a collision with two Swiss players and skated off with the help of his teammates.
With 2:20 left, Reichel put the icing on the cake as the assistant captain busted to the net and scored on a backhand move to make it 6-3.
The Swiss have won three quarter-finals all-time. In 1998 in Finland, Bjorn Christen’s 2-1 shootout winner against Sweden put them on the road to bronze. In 2002 in the Czech Republic, Sven Helfenstein got the winner in another shootout, 3-2 over Sweden, and the Swiss wound up losing the bronze medal game to Finland. And in 2010 in Canada, Nino Niederreiter famously notched the last-minute tying goal and the overtime winner versus Russia en route to a fourth-place finish.
Swiss defenceman Dominik Egli was listed on the roster but did not participate in the game due to a hand injury. The 19-year-old World Junior rookie, who has played for Kloten and Winterthur this season, averaged 20:51 in his team’s first three games.
LUCAS AYKROYD