World Junior-level hockey doesn’t come often, so the Czech Republic and Slovakia teams made sure Nanaimo fans got to see as much of it as possible.
The two teams played 60 minutes of regulation, five minutes of overtime and a shootout that went seven rounds before the Czechs prevailed 2-1 on Wednesday at Frank Crane Arena.
Jakub Pour scored the winning goal after the shootout turned into a goaltenders’ duel. Lukas Dostal was the winning goalie and Jakub Lauko scored the Czechs’ first goal.
For Slovakia, Martin Fehervary scored and Juraj Sklenar suffered the loss.
Shots were 27-21 in favour of the Czech Republic.
“It was a tough game, because the Slovaks played pretty well, they skate well, they’re tough, it was quite physical,” said Patrik Elias, former NHL player and an assistant coach with the Czech team.
He said coaches were looking to see how players responded to a smaller ice surface than many of them are used to, and also wanted to assess goaltending.
“It wasn’t an easy game and it wasn’t perfect … Some guys had a really good game, some guys didn’t, and tomorrow’s another day,” Elias said. “You can’t make an evaluation after one game. It’s a work in progress, obviously. We have one more [pre-tournament] game and before they know it, we’ll get going for real.”
GAME ON … The next game for Slovakia is against Team Canada on Friday, Dec. 21, in Victoria. The next game for the Czech Republic is versus Team U.S.A. on Saturday in Langley.
PHOTOS: Here are a few photos of the Czech Republic team (@narodnitym) during their game against #Slovakia tonight in #Nanaimo. #WorldJuniors #U20CZE pic.twitter.com/jtlAegOyLg
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) December 20, 2018
PHOTOS: Here are a couple of photos I took of the Slovakian team during the game tonight in #Nanaimo. pic.twitter.com/DX1KRQdpIy
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) December 20, 2018
Last tweet for now: A few more photos from tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/kJs2ZXAsOu
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) December 20, 2018
Really fun hockey game tonight. Czech Republic beat Slovakia 2-1 in a shootout. Frank Crane Arena was a full house… #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/Syn5zvP2z8
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) December 20, 2018
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