Last year’s bronze medal winners Finland collected nine points in the world ice hockey championship’s preliminary Group D, beating the Czech Republic 4-3 on Wednesday.
Finland went into the lead halfway into the first period through Niko Kapanen, who scored his fourth goal at the championship, sending the puck home with a close-range shot from Antti Mietinen’s cross.
But the Czechs leveled just 42 seconds later when Tomas Rolinek converted Jan Marek’s cross-ice pass after a mixup in Finland’s defence, while Miroslav Blatak put the Czechs in front at 13:30.
PHOTO: AFP
In the second the opponents traded goals before Niko Kapanen levelled at 3-3 clinching the lead in the goal scorers contest with his fifth goal during Finland’s two-man advantage.
In the third Toronto Maple Leafs forward Niklas Hagman netted Finland’s winning goal at 51:59 after a breakaway rush.
Meanwhile, in the last Group C clash in Berne, Sweden defeated the US 6-5 in overtime but remained second in the table.
Patrick O’Sullivan put the US 1-0 up 14:11 into the match, beating Sweden’s goalie Jonas Gustavsson with an unopposed shot after a breakaway.
In the second the Swedes added power to their attacks pinning the US back and went into the lead as forwards Mattias Weinhandl and Marcus Nilson netted one apiece within 35 seconds.
But the Americans took the initiative back and clinched the 5-2 lead through John Michael Liles, Ryan Shannon, who scored a double, and Jack Johnsson.
However, the Swedes refused to surrender as defender Magnus Johansson and forward Niklas Persson reduced the arrears scoring one apiece within less than four minutes, while Weinhandle equalized at 56:19 with his second of the match.
Kristian Huselius had the Sweden fans celebrating when he scored a sudden-death winner 1:59 into overtime.
In the early Group C match Latvia overcame Austria 2-0 sending the Austrians into the relegation round of the event.
Latvia, who needed not to lose in regular time to enter the qualifying round, opened the score late in the first period through Martins Cipulis, who fired under the crossbar from outside the crease.
Latvia were sitting comfortably on their advantage stifling Austria’s attacking efforts before Guntis Dzernis netted Latvia’s second at 54:56 dashing Austria’s slight hopes of rescuing the situation.
In the relegation group Austria will play with Denmark, who were beaten 5-4 in overtime by Norway in a tight Group D Scandinavian derby. Tommy Jakobsen was the hero of the match scoring the winner 1:11 into overtime to send Norway into the qualifying round.
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