Czechs And Canadians Combine For Twelve Goals In Wild Exhibition Shootout
By Radoslav Vavřina, Lead Writer, The Czech List
BŘECLAV, CZE – Twelve goals, loads of breathtaking moments, top-notch hockey atmosphere and hard hits, that all could be seen in the last exhibiton game before the start of the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup that saw Czechs host Canada. The clash ended with North Americans victorious, 7-5.
Two players rose above their teammates and let’s get to the first one first. Versatile defenseman Jakub Zbořil, a Saint John Sea Dogs draftee, led his team, as expected, and did so in a big way, scoring two goals and adding two assists. First, he opened the scoring three minutes in. Two minutes later, he assisted on Martin Weinhold‘s big goal.
Also, Zbořil recorded an assists later in second period while assisting on Lukáš Jašek‘s goal that made it 4-2 for Czechs, and finally, the Brno native would score the only Czech goal of the third period, cutting Canada’s late lead to a single goal. Daniel Vladař and Jan Růžička split the time in net.
For Canada, Lawson Crouse had a hell of a game, scoring two and assisting on one. He basically stole the spotlight in the second period when he managed to put in two vitals goal, each to cut Czech leads to a single goal, and finishing the frame up by setting up Connor Hobbs to tie the score. Goalies Callum Booth and Zachary Sawchenko ended up splitting time in net.
Quebecois defenseman Jérémy Roy scored the game-winning goal five minutes into the third period and Travis Konecny would add an insurance marker ten minutes later. Next up for Canada is Switzerland, Monday at 2 PM local time, while Czechs meet USA at 5 PM local time on the same day.
Meanwhile in Slovakia…
…Team USA scored a huge win over the hosting nation, 8-3 the final. Second period basically determined the winner as the Americans dominated it, 5-0.
