World Championships 2007 Day Nine

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The International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships reaches Day Nine, and Jim 'Tambo' Piper provides the round-up.

 GROUP E

SWITZERLAND 4 DENMARK 1

Switzerland got the win that guarantees their quarter final place for the sixth year in a row.

They came out with a far more aggressive nature than in their previous games and came close a few times early on. 13:19 gone and on the powerplay the Eidgenossen took the lead when an absolute canon from Wichser from the blue line was tipped in by Monnet through traffic, beating the Danish keeper high on the glove side. Dipietro missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 in another powerplay but Madsen made a good save. End of the first Switzerland 1 Denmark 0.

Swizterland took the play to Denmark in the early stages of the second and went 2-0 up on 6:20 when DiPietro scored by hitting the puck off Danish d man Nielson past Madsen. Denmark came back into the game and had a good period of play including back to back powerplays but could not prise open the Swiss defence. The Swiss all but wrapped up the game on 32:08 when Sprunger got the better of a physical challenge with Damgaard, gained control of the puck and surprised the goalie by shooting high from close range. Denmark got themselves on the scoresheet at 36:41 on the powerplay through a wrister from Damgaard which slipped through the goalie’s legs. This gave Denmark a lift and only a superb poke check by Bezina prevented a second goal just on the second period buzzer.

Denmark were the better team in the third period and Nielsen nearly scored 4 minutes in as a shot from the right wing nearly got past Hiller. However Switzerland killed off any hopes for the Danes by making it 4-1 at 39:34 as Sprunger scored his second of the game after a neat one-two with Monnet.

Switzerland qualify for the quarter finals with this win and Denmark will reflect on another good tournament for them.

FINLAND 3 ITALY 0

Not much to report on this game as Finland coasted to the win. One got the feeling that they did just enough whilst keeping one eye on tomorrow’s big game against Sweden. Italy looked tired and, having accomplished their aims in this tournament,(winning one game and qualifying for next years competition), they realised they are out of their depth against quality opposition like Finland.

Finland effectively ended the competativeness of the game at 7:29 as they scored on the powerplay. Peltonen tried a shot which the Italian goalie saved but the rebound bounced off a defenders skate straight to Viuhkola who scored. 18:48 and the Finns had a two goal advantage that the Italians were never going to claw back. Jukka Hentunen made the tof of the circle on the right hand side of Hell’s goal and let rip a cannon the zipped past the goalie’s stick side. End of the period and 2-0 to Finland. Italy only managed 2 shots on goal in a game that looked way beyond them.

Finland continued their dominance in the second period without troubling the scorer. Italy did get two good chances on goal but Norrena stood firm. End of the 2nd 2-0 to Finland.

An early goal in the third emphasised the difference between the teams when Viuhkola scored his second of the game. Norrena posted a clean 13 shot shut out as Finland advanced to the quarterfinals.

GROUP F

USA 3 GERMANY 0

Germany were looking for another upset after their wonderful victory over the Czech Republic. They were brought back to earth with a bump as early as 2:33 when Eric Cole sent in a shot on goal that was tipped past Patzold by Stastny.

USA thought they had gone 2 up when the referee blew for an interference penalty on Chris Clark just as the puck flew past Patzold. Germany also had a goal disallowed in the period as Finnish referee blew far too early stating he had lost sight of the puck when it was clear behind the goalie and the Germans pushed it over the line. Poor call from the referee. End of 1st USA 1 Germany 0

The second period was end to end with the best chances coming from USA and Tyler missed an open net early on. It took until 3526 for USA to score the insurance goal. Cole again found Stastny in front of goal and managed to jam the puck home at the third attempt for 2-0. Two periods gone and USA comfortably two goals up.

USA wrapped up the scoring early in the third when at 43:31 player of the game Stastny passed to Cole from behind the net. Cole shoved the puck in front of goal and Stempniak scored easily past Patzold. Germany upped their game a bit after this and Ullman came close butr Grahame poked the puck off his stick. Germany’s last chance to break the shut out came in the dying seconds as Kreutzer beat the goalie only to see the puck ping off the post to safety. Final score USA 3 Germany 0

USA march on to the quarter finals next week and Germany are likely to have a winner takes all game against Belarus for the last quarter final place.

CZECH REPUBLIC 2 SLOVAKIA 3

This game started with both teams working out each others strategy and for the first 8 mins, absolutely nothing happened. The game exploded into life at 8:02 when the Czechs scored on what turned out to be their only powerplay of the match. 22 seconds after Podhradsky went to the box on an interference call, Marek passed the puck into the circle where the waiting Plekanec fired a low wrister through Krizan’s five-hole.

Surprisingly the Czechs sat back on the lead, inviting the Slovaks onto the defence who coped well with all that did come to them. The second half of the period was all about two teams cancelling each other out and there was no further scoring in the stanza.

The game’s complexion changed with only 2:38 gone in the second. Marian Gaborik took control of the puck behind the net and fed Demitra who was at a very tight angle to the goal. Demitra threw the puck on goal and Cechmanek totally misplayed it and the puck bounced off his skate into the net. 1-1. Slovakia, now sensing they could get something from this game upped the pace and took the lead at 30:44. Podhradsky came in from the blue line and took the puck behind the net. The puck was left for Satan to feed Kapus in front of goal and he made no mistake on the backhand. The Czech Republic’s best chance of the period came with 5 minutes left in the middle stanza as Vyborny nearly found Sykora driving to the net. Krizan stood tall and poke checked the puck away from danger. End of the period 2-1 to Slovakia.

On the very first play of the third, Slovakia nearly took a two goal lead as the puck bounced of Cechmanek’s crossbar and post. The Slovaks also hit the post at the mid point of the period as Surovy went close. At 53:18 just after returning to full strength, Slovakia took that two goal lead. Miroslav Satan skated into the slot and fed Marian Gaborik who hit the bouncing puck into the roof of a startled Cechmanek. With six minutes left Klesa scored for the Czechs when he hit a rebound past Krizan.

Czech Republic pulled the goalie for the last 50 seconds but never troubled Krizan and Slovakia held out for a good and thoroughly deserved win.

This result puts Slovakia on equal points with the Czechs with a relatively easy game against Belarus to come. The Czechs, however are in real danger of not making the quarter finals. Their last game is against Canada and should they lose, the door will be open for Germany to beat Belarus and make the knockout stages.

Tomorrow sees 6 games in the competition with the relegation round playing its second series and huge games in the big boys group when Finland take on Sweden and Canada play Czech Republic

See you tomorrow

Tambo

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