The first floorball match at The World Games was won by the reigning World Champions Finland. They defeated Czech Republic 4-2.

Photo: Martin Flousek

The Czech team appeared to have the better start into the 1st period. Daniel Sebek scored the first goal for Czech Republic and the very first goal of the tournament. Despite having the game in the middle of pre-season both teams displayed a fast, skilled and nice game. The Finnish Team was able to equalize the score three minutes later by shooting star Peter Kotilainen. The Czech Team was able to play 2 times two minutes in power play – however, they couldn’t score from this great opportunity.

The 2nd period was almost a copy of the first period. Again it was the Czech Team which got the lead by Radek Vales. Few minutes later Peter Kotilainen showed why he is a natural scorer: out of the blue he scored his second goal of the game. The Czech Team got another opportunity to train their powerplay – so far still with no success. Both teams play with high speed and intensity.

The 3rd period began with Finland having a lot more ball possession than Czech Republic. But it took until the 36th minute when Krister Savonen intercepted a ball nicely in the middle zone. He realized quickly to pass the ball to his team mate Janne Lamminen who scored for Finland. This was the first lead for them; and they kept that lead until the end. Shortly before the final siren it was very experienced player Mika Kohonen who scored into the empty net from Team Czech Republic. Finland secured the first #floorball victory of #TWG2017.

Best players:
#61 Peter Kotilainen (FIN)
#15 Marek Benes (CZE)

Check out the post-game interview with Mika Kohonen (FIN) and Milan Tomasik (CZE)