On the first day of the World Hockey Championship, Slovakia defeated France 4-2 in a great match, while the United States opened 4-1 against Latvia. In the evening matches, Canada only beat the Germans 5-3, but the Finns did not defeat the Norwegians without scoring a goal.
| It started smoothly, got tight, but Canada beat Germany (Photo: IIHF) |
In group A. The match between the Slovaks and the French was very exciting in Helsinki. With a hit from Pavol Reginda and Tomas Tatar, the Slovaks went 2-0 up, but Anthony Rich and Jordan Perrett had scored 2-2 midway through the second quarter. And the second 20 minutes ended with Slovakia leading, as Samuel Takac scored.
The match is a classic ending. In the third, two minutes before the end, the French dropped their goalkeeper, but the equalizer did not come. Moreover, Regenda took advantage of the fact that the opponent’s goal was empty, and eight seconds before the last bagpipe, he scored his second and fourth goal for his team.
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| The Slovaks win an exciting match (Photo: IIHF) |
In the evening, the Canada-Germany match at first was entirely paper-based, but then unexpectedly became tight. The Canadians actually led 5-1 – Winnipeg Jets player Pierre-Luc Dubois doubled – but in the third quarter the Germans advanced 5-3 with both hits in a double win. Feeling the opportunity, three and a half minutes before the end, the European team dropped the goalkeeper, but with the extra player he could not score another goal, so Canada won 5-3.
In group B. In Tampere, the United States smoothly defeated Latvia. Midway through the first quarter, they also scored three goals in four good minutes by Riley Barber, Seth Jones and Thomas Bordello, the latter scoring in human damage.
Only half a minute passed in the second half, when Sam Laverty also scored a goal, but the Latvians later gathered for a makeover. At the end of the second 20 minutes, they had a double human advantage and the penalty was extended to the final third. The Americans almost fled, but two seconds before the end of the second round, Anders Dzirenz was pushing the Latvians. They didn’t get close, so the American game ended 4-1 successfully.
On the other hand, the Finnish hosts were more careful about their edge over the Norwegians in the evening match. They scored five goals in the same way but did not score any. And Tony Ragala scored assists in addition to his goal. Although 5-0 indicated an easy victory, a shot from 32 to 20 yards indicated that the Norwegians did not give up easily.
hockey
World Championship, Finland
round 1
Group A (Helsinki)
France – Slovakia 2-4 (0-1, 2-2, 0-1)
Canada and Germany 5-3 (2-0, 3-1, 0-2)
Group Two (Tampere)
United States – Latvia 4-1 (3-0, 1-0, 0-1)
Finland – Norway 5-0 (1-0, 2-0, 2-0)
