Czechia overwhelmed Slovakia tonight at TD Place, defeating their geographic and sporting rivals, 4-2, and moving into a first-place tie with Sweden in Group B. Both teams have perfect 3-0-0 records and will play on New Year’s Eve to determine who gets top seeding heading into the quarter-finals on 2 January.

Slovakia drops to 1-0-2 and sits in fourth place with three points, ahead of only Kazakhstan and Switzerland, both with no points. Slovakia and Kazakhstan will play tomorrow in a huge game for both teams. A win will put Slovakia in the playoffs; a loss leaves the bottom three in a dogfight to avoid the relegation game.

"It's pretty exciting," said Vojtech Hradec, one of the Czech goalscorers. "Tonight was a big game, and now we have three wins in three games. We're happy, but we need to keep going. We played like a team."

"We need to take fewer penalties and do a bit better on the power play," Hradec continued. "We've been watching Sweden's games and know a bit about them. It's a short tournament, so we need to go step by step."

 

"The effort was good, and we did all we could," said Slovak captain Dalibor Dvorsky. "We've done some good things but need to improve on other things. We have good coaches and we'll look at video and learn. They have a good team and can score, but we made some mistakes. If we play our best hockey, we're a tough team to beat."

The Czechs started off strong, scoring the only two goals of the opening period thanks to effective counter-attacks and better finish around the net. The first was a short-handed effort. You know those drop passes teams do on the power play in centre ice? Well, it cost the Slovaks tonight as Matej Mastalirsky picked off one such loose pass and sent a great cross-ice pass to Hradec on the ensuing two-on-one. Hradec snapped a shot past the outstretched glove of Alan Lendak at 11:12 to make it 1-0.

"For me, it was a big moment, scoring in the derby. I'm so happy," Hradec enthused. "Masty [Mastalirsky] took the puck and he moved  the puck into their zone and passed across to me. I had a shot and scored; I'm very happy. We know they make that play, but getting the puck was also maybe a little bit of luck."

Four minutes later, the Czechs dashed up ice off another turnover. This time Adam Jecho flicked a pass to Pavel Simek, roaring up the middle, and his speed gave him the advantage on a deke to make it 2-0.

If ever a team deserved a goal, it was Slovakia midway through the second. With the Czechs moving the puck around in the offensive zone, the Slovaks blocked three shots in quick succession, and as each player tried to get back to his skates, the crowd gave them an enthusiastic cheer for the defensive sacrifice. 

Sure enough, Slovakia was rewarded with a goal. Peter Cisar’s point shot through traffic somehow snuck through the large equipment of Michael Hrabal at 10:48, making it a one-goal game…thanks to plenty of pain.

"When the team blocks shots, it brings up our energy on the bench," Slovak Peter Valent said. "It's a mental advantage for all the players, for sure."

The Czechs were not to be intimidated, however, and they had their best series of puck possession shifts right after, eventually restoring their two-goal lead thanks to another two-on-one perfectly converted. This time it was Mastalirsky with the pass and captain Eduard Sale with the flawless finish at 17:21.

The Czechs added to their tally midway through the third thanks to Sale. He converted another nice pass on an odd-man rush, this from Miroslav Holinka, as Lendak once again couldn't go side to side to beat the accurate shot.

An ugly incident occurred with six minutes left in the game when Czech forward Vojtech Cihar hammered Miroslav Satan into the end glass, earning a major and game misconduct. No doubt, the IIHF Disciplinary Committee will have a look at the hit, which forced Satan to the dressing room for the rest of the night.

A minute into the lenghty power play Dalibor Dvorsky wired a high shot over Hrabal's glove to make it a 4-2 game, but that's as close as they got this night.

"This is a big rivalry, but it's a long tournament," Valent concluded. "We can't look back and only forward. It's always special to play against Czech. Every time we play them, we want to win. Still, it's just another game in the tournament. We needed to get more shots and not give up as many odd-man rushes. Those mistakes coast us the game tonight."