The Czecho-Slovakians started with a victory

He proved he is a very good goalie, but it was Riecicky who had much more saves. After two periods, he had twice as many then Grubauer. Germany outplayed Slovakia in first 40 minutes but Slovak captain Richard Panik was the most dangerous player on ice. He stunned the Germans 8 seconds after the start of the 2nd period when he opened the scoring. Germany`s Tom Kühnhackl missed a penalty shot after Trska was fouled on a breakaway.

Germans had more shots, but the Slovak defense was tight and allowed just one goal from Hauner. In addition, Hoffin deflected the puck into the post in the 31th minute. Slovakia finally showed their potential in the third but Grubauer made several good saves.

"We were very nervous at the start of the game. I had a lot of save and it was one of my best games in my career. Two periods it was very tough, starting the third, we outplayed our opponent. For us it is a very important win," said one of the heroes of the game Dominik Riecicky.

Germany could have played with a 2-man advantage for half a minute but Noebels paid back and Germany lost the chance. Two minutes before the end Plachta just hit the end of Riecicky`s shoulder, it was almost goal.

Richard Panik showed his geniality in overtime. From the boards he fired precise pass in front of the goal and Hrivik cleared the puck into the empty net.

In the other game of the day in Lexinton, it was Norway who was more dangerous in the first period than the Czech Republic. Sundelius was wide open near the right post, but it took him more than it should before he shot, and Mazanec managed to save it. Other than that the quality of the game was much lower than in Slovakia - Germany game.

The key man for the Czech Republic was Antonin Honejsek. In the 35th minute he won a face-off and along to Tomas Rachunek (the younger brother of former NHLer and now KHLer Karel) managed to create an unexpected signal move and Soberg was helpless against the shot toward his right post. Czech took the momentum of the game and increased their lead in 45th minute, when Honejsek while shorthanded went on a breakaway and with a backhand move made it 2-0 lead.

The Czechs controlled the rest of the game, played very causiously in defence and did not put their two-goal lead in jeopardy. "The Norwegians played very physical and fast game. I am very happy we did not need to turn the game over and it was us who scored the first goal," said Tomas Rachunek.

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