The “Big Four” took strong victories during the first day of the Men´s U19 World Floorball Championships in Växjö, Sweden.

Czech Republic – Latvia 11-5 (2-1, 3-4, 6-0)
Czech Republic met Latvia in the first match of the day at VIDA Arena. Latvia were the first to score after roughly six minutes, but at the end of the first period the Czechs were in a 2-1 lead. In the second period Latvia’s #15 Kriss Treimanis scored a beautiful penalty shot and evened the score. At 34:02 Latvia were in a 4-2 lead, but right before the end of the second period Czech Republic had already evened the score. The Czechs dominated the third period by scoring six goals. They won the match 11-5.

Best players:
CZE #17 Nemecek Ondrej
LAT #15 Treimanis Kriss

Poland – Switzerland 3-12 (0-3, 3-5, 0-4)
The match between Poland and Switzerland was rather eventful. Lots of goals, but also some penalties were seen. In the first period the Swiss scored three goals. Poland started the second period with a powerplay, which unfortunately for them led to a shorthanded goal by Switzerland. Lots of penalties were seen during the second period and Poland also got a 5-minute penalty for dangerous play. At the end of the second period the score was 8-3 for Switzerland and out of the eight goals that were scored during the second period, seven were either scored shorthanded or on powerplay. In the end, Switzerland won the match 12-3.

Best players:
POL #25 Malajka Wojciech
SUI #17 Burki Jan

Denmark – Finland 1-15 (1-6, 0-5, 0-4)
Denmark were facing the reigning World Champions Finland in their first match of the tournament. The first goal was scored by Denmark after three minutes, but they didn’t get to celebrate for long as Finland started to score. After the first period, Finland led the match 6-1. The second period was no different. Finland were holding the ball and scoring goals. The same continued in the third period. Denmark got a few counter attacks, but they were ineffective. Finland took a strong opening win with numbers 15-1.

Best players:
DEN #15 Jensen Mathias Horby
FIN #9 Helin Aaro

Slovakia – Sweden 0-13 (0-7, 0-5, 0-1)
Slovakia played against the home team Sweden in the last match of the day. Sweden didn’t waste time to start scoring and the home audience was happy. Slovakia took two penalties during the first period, and Sweden were sure to score on powerplay. After first period the match was 7-0 for Sweden. Second period continued the same way. Sweden controlled the match and led the match already 12-0 after 40 minutes. In the third period, Slovakia stepped up their game a bit, but still no Slovakian goals were seen. Sweden won the match 13-0.

Best players:
SVK #93 Kohut Adam
SWE #54 Malmgren Oskar

Photos: IFF Flickr