U18: Germans almost beat Canada, Slovakian coach gave a gift to the Czechs

Canada had a strong start and opened the scoring soon. "They always start well in this tournament. However, we proved we can play an equal game with Canada," said Sebastien Uvira who had an assist on the 3-2 goal in the 42th minute.

Germany protected this lead for nine minutes, but then Canada turned the game over. "We played a fantastic game, but one thing we did wrong. We drew too many penalties and it cost us victory," added Uvira.

The German goalie Marvin Cüpper had a very good game, but Morgan Reilly turned the game over. He tied the game in the 51st minute and at 55:18 Nick Cousins tipped his beautiful pass from the blue line into the net in power play. Reilly was the key factor, why Canada advanced into the semifinals. The game was broadcasted live via TSN.

"A situation like this speaks volumes about how good this kid is going to be. It was a crazy atmosphere, it was loud, there was a ton of pressure and really no time to think and he had all the poise in the world and got it done," praised the coach Mike Williamson the top star of the game.

Despite the loss, German fans were very proud of their team and cheered more than an hour after the game in the stands.

"I am very proud of my team. I definitely have coached better players, but never a better team. We finished the game with only four defensemen, but never stopped fighting. The players did deserve the applause," said Jim Setters, the coach of team Germany.

In the first quarter final game Russia beat Finland 5-2, but the game was tied at 2-2 in the 50th minute. They were able to tie the game twice in power play but it was also on a 5-4 advantage that the Russians scored the winning goal. They created a strong pressure on that power-play. "It was the turning point of the game. We were already quite tired, it was important that we scored," said Anton Slepysev, who admitted this was his best game of the tournament.

Later Russians added two more goals. One after a horrible mistake in the Finnish defence and the other goal was an empty netter. "Now we play against the Swedes, who won their group. We are not in the best physical conditions, but we have a day off and we will be ready," Slepysev added.

Also the games in the relegation round brought epic battles. A result of a Czechoslovakian derby was in jeopardy to the final second. Slovakia was 3-2 up before the 3rd period, but the Jakub Matai managed to tie the game.

With 63 seconds to go, Slovakian coach Jozef Frühauf pulled the goalie and Slovakia tried to score the winning 4th goal with six men. However, two seconds before the regulation, Czech captain Lukas Sedlak scored the winning goal and secured the spot for the Czech Republic among the best teams for the next year.


Czech Lukáš Sedlák scores the game winning goal to the empty net
Photo: Dominika Handzusova

Slovakia did not need a three-point victory. If they would have beaten Czechs in overtime and they beat Norway on Saturday, the Czechs would have needed at least two points against Switzerland. "We wanted to have it in our hands. That was the reason, why we pulled our goalie off," explained Jozef Frühauf.

"Slovakian coach gifted us our victory. That was an incredible step, I absolutely do not understand it," said the Czech coach Jiri Solc.

The Czechs took the lead soon and got their opponent under pressure. However, Slovakia turned the game over and was close to get a 2-goal advantage in the 3rd period. "We thought it will be an easy game at the start. But it went wrong, the first two periods were really bad. We drew too many penalties," said Jakub Matai.

"I feel like our team could win the medal here. Unfortunately, some players from the Swedish league and Canadian leagues played not for their team, but for their name. They played way too much as individuals. Only Machovsky and Musil satisfied me from this group of the players. For instance, we expected much more from Martin Frk who played very well last year at U18 and also at U20 in Buffalo. His shifts were too long, he did not take passes...," said a disappointed Jiri Solc.

Switzerland was a better team against Norway at the start, but no goal came. "We started well and had many scoring chances. We knew they have an outstanding goalie and wait for the breakaways. Then Norway scored out of nothing and we had to work hard to tie the game. Crucial was the 3 on 5 situation when we kept Norway scoreless. Then we scored in our own power play," said Jan Neuenschwander, Swiss forward.

"We are very disappointed. We can play better hockey than we played today. The turning point was the two Swiss goals late in the 2nd period. In the locker room we promised to turn the game over, but when the 3rd goal came, we were unable to response," said Norwegian captain Magnus Huff.

He was not happy with one of the important referee calls in the 3rd period. "The 3rd goal was not fair. I wanted to clear the puck, but I was fouled. I felt cheated," he commented.

Norwegian goalie Steffen Søberg showed another star performance. "I have to praise our goalie Søberg. He played a very good tournament and did all he could," said Huff.

"Steffen Søberg was a tough obstacle for us. We knew he is great because we played a practice game against Norway and he was incredible. It was really stressful for us, we had to make sure the goalie does not see our shots," said Neuenschwander.

Semi finals
Russia-Finland 5-2 (1-0, 1-1, 3-1)
Goals: 20. Ivanyuzhenkov, 36. and 56. Slepyshev, 50. Kucherov, 59. Nesterov - 34. Aaltonen, 45. Salomäki

Canada-Germany 4-3 (1-2, 1-0, 2-1)
Goals: 2. Murray, 40. Ritchie, 51. Rielly, 56. Cousins - 7. Pföderl, 13. Rieder, 42. Ackermann

Relegation round
Switzerland-Norway 4-1 (0-0, 2-1, 2-0)
Goals: 39. Amstutz, 40. Martschini, 50. and 59. Richard - 25. Hoff

Czech Republic-Slovakia 4-3 (1-2, 1-1, 2-0)
Goals: 2. Hertl, 24. and 60. Sedlak, 51. Matai - 7. Mraz, 19. Rapac, 26. Vasko

 

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