An eventful match was seen between Latvia and Poland. The Czechs took the first place of Group B by defeating the Swiss. Finland and Sweden ended their group stages with a victory.
Latvia – Poland 13-10 (3-1, 4-3, 6-6)
In the first match of the day in VIDA arena, Latvia and Poland were fighting for the third place of Group B. The match was truly eventful. All in all, 23 goals were seen, but also 64 penalty minutes. In the first period Latvia took a 3-0 lead. Right before the end of the period, the first Polish goal made the score 3-1. Latvians stormed to a 7-1 lead in the second period, but Poland didn’t give up. Before the second period ended the score was 7-4. The third period was full of action. Once again Latvia increased their lead with a few more goals, but Poland came closer again. In the end the Polish effort wasn’t enough and Latvia won the match 13-10.
Best players:
LAT #3 Ozolins Klavs
POL #14 Zacher Rafal
Switzerland – Czech Republic 5-6 (0-1, 1-2, 4-3)
One of the most anticipated matches of the day was Switzerland v Czech Republic. The match decided which team is the #1 in Group B. Right from the start the match was really even. In the first period, both teams wasted their scoring chances, but the Czechs were able to score once on powerplay. After the second period the Czechs had increased their lead to 3-1. The third period was eventful. Both teams took turns in scoring and also took penalties. At 48:48 the Swiss evened the score on powerplay, but with two minutes left on the clock the Czechs had a fast counter attack and scored the winning goal.
Best players:
SUI #24 Ruch Jonas
CZE #9 Langer Filip
Finland – Slovakia 8-3 (4-1, 3-1, 1-1)
Finland were the definite favourites in the match against Slovakia and within 15 minutes they were already in a 4-0 lead. At the end of the first period Slovakia got a powerplay, which they used efficiently and decreased the score to 4-1. The second period followed the same script as the first one. Finland controlled the ball and Slovakia were mostly relying on counter attacks. After 40 minutes the score was 7-2 for Finland. In the third period both teams scored once, which meant that Finland won the match 8-3.
Best players:
FIN #20 Kovanen Joonatan
SVK #99 Kyselica Marek
Sweden – Denmark 10-0 (2-0, 6-0, 2-0)
The home team had gathered themselves after the loss against Finland yesterday. Sweden were controlling the match, but scoring wasn’t easy as Denmark defended bravely. With 20 minutes on the clock, the score was 2-0 for Sweden. Defending was tiring for the Danish and after 30 minutes the Swedish were finding the net more often. After the second period the score was already 8-0 for the home team. Denmark gathered themselves for the third period and allowed Sweden to score only two goals. Sweden’s goalie didn’t let a single shot in and this meant that Sweden won the match 10-0.
Best players:
SWE #22 Holmgren Linus
DEN #24 Olesen Michael Brinch
Photos: IFF Flickr
