Hosts Czech Republic defeat Austria 4-0 to advance into World Championship quarter-finals
In addition to the clear-cut win with a clean sheet kept by Petr Mrazek, the coaching staff can also be pleased with two power plays, in which the Czech team has not been successful so far in the tournament. On Saturday, the national team will play Great Britain, and Carolina's Martin Nečas could be on the roster.
Czech Republic 4 Austria 0
After Denmark's triumph over Great Britain in the afternoon, the Czechs were confident that they would qualify for the quarter-finals if they win by three points. Petr Mrazek started in goal against Austria and contributed to a 6-3 win over Norway in his first and only start at the tournament.
In the fifth minute, Dominik Kubalik, who opened his scoring account against Denmark last time out, found himself in an interesting position twice within a few dozen seconds. However, he could not beat David Madlener this time and did not score in the seventh minute. Matej Stransky did the same shortly after.
The hosts locked the opponents in their defensive third, with Lukas Sedlak shooting dangerously. Halfway through the opening period, the Czechs led 8-1 in shots, but the crowd were kept waiting for goals. This was true both after Jan Rutta's shot and Ondrej Beránek's finish, who was found in front of the net by Jachym Kondelík.
After that, the Austrians also became calmer and settled in front of Mráaek for the first time in the game. During that time they produced two crosses and one shot. Twenty seconds before the first period ended, the home team got a penalty shot after a foul on the escaping Ondrej Kase, which the Litvinov forward easily converted with a backhand shot.
At the beginning of the second period, Radko Gudas headed to the penalty box after a foul on Marco Rossi. The Austrians also missed out on taking advantage in a powerplay due to a curious situation where they played four men by mistake for almost half a minute. Coach Radim Rulík's charges then pressed their opponents again, but Michal Kempny could not shoot past Madlener.
In the 35th minute, captain Thomas Raffl committed a foul and the Czechs had a numerical advantage for the second time in the match. They got a shot away through Spacek, but the goalkeeper was alert.
Soon Roman Cervenka fouled the puck and the game was even, but after a few seconds David Maier was also penalised for interference on Ondrej Palat and the Czechs were playing four against three. The powerplay didn't last long either, as Kubalik ended it with a precise shot. Jakub Flek scored shortly after, and the home team led 3-0 after two periods.
Even the goal of the Brno forward was scored on a powerplay, so Rulik's charges significantly improved their statistics in a discipline in which they had not been successful at in the tournament until then. At the beginning of the third period, the national team added a fourth goal, scored for the first time at the championship by David Tomasek, who was accurately fed by Palat.
After that, the game was practically over. The Austrians, unlike in their duelswith Canada, whom they had robbed of a point, and Finland, whom they had beaten for three points with a goal seconds before the end, could not return to the game. Mrazek celebrated a clean sheet and the Czechs won 4-0.