hckošice

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Germany 2 - 7 Sweden Period-by-Period: 1-1, 1-3, 0-3 May 6th 2016, h. 20:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Sweden back in business 7-2 win gives Tre Kronor first win After holding even at 2-2, Sweden scored five uncontested goals that turned a close game into a rout. Sweden rebounded from their opening night loss with a commanding 7-2 win over Germany. Second period goals by Linus Omark and Jonas Brodin helped Sweden to a two goal lead that they would not relinquish. William Nylander has two goals and three points in the game. Captain Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists. "I think everybody could see how good they were at the end." German forward Brooks Macek said. "We played a pretty good game in the first two periods. We had a good goalie and we just battled, so we held them at 2-2 but then they just showed how good they really are." Despite the final score, this was not an easy game. Playing with early confidence, Germany matched their rivals to hold the game to a 2-2 tie before the game was put out of reach. Their confidence undoutedly came as a result of last night’s win over the United States. Greiss was spectacular over the first half of the game, keeping his team in it despite a flurry of activity by the Swedes in the first period. The majority of the offensive action occurred in Germany’s end of the ice. Moreover, for the first seven and a half minutes, Germany did not hit a shot on goal. "We made mistakes in our own zone and you can't give them so much time." Macek said. "They are all pretty good players so if they get a little bit of room they will take it and score." Sweden opened scoring when defenceman Oliver Ekman Larsson’s shot found the back of the net at 6:56. Ekman Larsson’s wrist shot appeared to be redirected by one of two German defenders in front. Germany rallied and finally generated some offense of their own, pulling even when Patrick Hager scored while using John Klingberg as a screen. Hager’s goal beat Viktor Fasth stick side at 16:14 of the first period. Dennis Seidenberg and Yasin Ehliz picked up assists. Sweden outshot Germany 22-5 in the period. It’s safe to say that had Greiss not been in net, Sweden would have done a lot more damage early on. Jonas Brodin and William Karlsson each led with four shots. In the second period, both teams traded power play goals. Victor Rask found the net with Moritz Muller in the penalty box. The goal came :23 into the period with the defensive pairing of Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman earning assists. During this sequence when Sweden scored Elias Lindholm was injured and had to be helped off the ice. He would not return. Five minutes later, Philip Gogulla answered back with a power play goal. Felix Schutz sent a shot on goal that was saved by Fasth but a big rebound found its way over to Gogulla who was alone and uncontested. He wasted no time in converting. The Swedes regained the lead when Marcus Kruger took possession of the puck and skated behind the Germany net. Kruger made a move to the slot where he got off a shot that was saved. While down on his knees, Kruger grabbed the rebound and sent the puck to the slot where Linus Omark jammed it home. With 2.5 seconds left in the second period, Sweden added another goal for good measure. Jonas Brodin scored off a pass from William Nylander to make it 4-2. "It was a tight game up until then." Nylander said. "They were battling back every time so those were important goals for sure." In the third Sweden kept surging, adding three goals that drove Greiss to the bench and replaced by Danny Aus den Birken. Two of those goals were scored by Nylander, which brought a smile to the face of his NHL coach, Mike Babcock, who was in attendance. "I just got a chance and tried to get it on the net and it went in, then the other was a great pass from Gabriel and I was able to get a shot off." Despite the loss, Germany remained upbeat after the game and were given an ovation by their fgams in attendance. Sweden also had significant representation in the stands as well. LANXESS Arena boasted another sold out crowd of 18,673.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Germany 2 - 7 Sweden Period-by-Period: 1-1, 1-3, 0-3 May 6th 2016, h. 20:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Group A Provisional Standing After Day 2 Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Sweden 2 1(0) 1(1) 8 4 +4 4 Latvia 1 1(0) 0(0) 3 0 +3 3 Germany 2 1(0) 1(0) 4 8 -4 3 Slovakia 1 1(1) 0(0) 3 2 +1 2 Russia 1 1(1) 0(0) 2 1 +1 2 Italy 1 0(0) 1(1) 2 3 -1 1 United States 1 0(0) 1(0) 1 2 -1 0 Denmark 1 0(0) 1(0) 0 3 -3 0

Final Results Group A in Cologne Germany - Sweden 2-7 (1-1,1-3, 0-3) 06:56 Oliver EKMAN-LARSON 0-1 16:14 Patrick HAGER 1-1 20:23 Victor RASK 1-2 25:26 Philip GOGULLA 2-2 35:14 Linus OMARK 2-3 39:57 Jonas BRODIN 2-4 49:42 Gabriel LANDESKOG 2-5 50:40 William NYLANDER 2-6 51:59 William NYLANDER 2-7 Group B in Paris Norway - France 3-2 (0-0, 2-1, 1-1) 25:03 Ken-Andre OLIMB 1-0 29:41 Patrick THORESEN 2-0 38:14 Stephane DA COSTA 2-1 49:54 Patrick THORESEN 3-1 49:59 Stephane DA COSTA 3-2

Nylander is such a briliant talent, this is insane what a player this guy already is

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 DAY 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAMS PREVIEW Norway ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JERSEY Home Away ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Norway looks for boost Olympics settled, but Paris important Norway will be going to PyeongChang, but will it do so on a high or low? Paris will provide the answers. The Norwegians have yet to replicate their fabulous 2011 World Championship when they finished sixth (their best result since 1962), but they have maintained status in the top pool, which is also critical to the nation’s program. This year, playing in Paris alongside Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Switzerland, France, Belarus, and Slovenia, qualifying for the quarter-finals is a long shot, but avoiding relegation will be the team’s greater goal as it prepares for the 2018 Olympics. Goal Norway’s three goalies represent youth, middle age, and veteran quite nicely. At 30, Lars Haugen is the senior of the three starting his seventh World Championship. Indeed, he was stellar in 2011 during the team’s best run in half a century, and he’ll be the one who gets first chance to be the go-to goalie. Steffen Soberg, 23, has been part of the national team at the junior and then senior level since 2011, but has only five games of WM experience to his credit. Henrik Haukeland is the baby of the bunch. The 22-year-old played at the 2014 U20 for Norway, his only international experience. Defence Jonas Holos has one of the longest consecutive World Championship streaks of the modern era. This will be his 12th tournament in a row, as well as the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, so his experience will be invaluable to the defence. The other veteran is Alexander Bonsaksen, who has played every event since 2009 except last year. Beyond that, the blueliners are mostly young and hoping to learn from their mentors. Johannes Johannesen and Dennis Sveum were promising newcomers last year and hope to build on a decent start to their senior careers, and Erlund Lesund is making his senior team debut. Their task will be primarily to support Haugen et al. inside their own blue line. Forward Goalscoring has long been a nemesis for the Norwegians. In the last four Worlds, some 28 games, the team has managed only 53 goals, less than two a game. This puts monumental pressure on the goalies, and no team can sustain needed wins with such small output. Some of the names needed to put the puck in the net are familiar: Anders Bastiansen, Martin Roymark, Kristian Forsberg, and the Olimb brothers, Mathis and Ken Andre. Patrick Thoresen, a former NHLer who played this past year in Switzerland, will need to score, but so will some of the younger players such as Jorgen Karterud and Thomas Valkvae-Olsen, both 23, who are making their senior debuts. Coaching Petter Thoresen has a long history in Norway as a player and coach (and father of Steffen and Patrick, two fine players in their own right). Thoresen will need to draw on all his strengths because he’s taking over for Roy Johansen, who retired after last year’s World after a marvelous 15-year career as national team coach. Thoresen will bring a new voice and approach, but he’ll have most of the same parts to work with. Projected Results Realistically, the Canadians, Czechs, and Finns have a lock on three quarter-finals spots, and the chances of Norway squeaking into the fourth spot is tenuous. Norway will likely have to win a couple of key games against France (May 6) and Slovenia (May 9) to avoid relegation. A finish in the 9-12 quad would be respectable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Previews France Latvia Slovenia Canada Denmark Italy Belarus United States Russia Finland Sweden Germany Czech Republic Switzerland Slovakia

Results after 2nd Period Group A in Cologne Germany - Sweden 2-4 (1-1,1-3,-) 06:56 Oliver EKMAN-LARSON 0-1 16:14 Patrick HAGER 1-1 20:23 Victor RASK 1-2 25:26 Philip GOGULLA 2-2 35:14 Linus OMARK 2-3 39:57 Jonas BRODIN 2-4 Group B in Paris Norway - France 2-1 (0-0, 2-1,-) 25:03 Ken-Andre OLIMB 1-0 29:41 Patrick THORESEN 2-0 38:14 Stephane DA COSTA 2-1

I told you that before the tournament and you have not trusted me we have this year probably, no ! not, wait, no probably, but certainly the weakest slovak ice hockey team we ever used at any tournament. Likely only 4 maximu 5 players (Hudáček bros, Laco, Miklík and Bližňák) would be in our team composed by our best players. more than a half of this team normally have nothing to do in any national team, the quality is miserable. but unfortunately what can we do, we are a small country and if our best players refuse to play we are chanceless. Trust me you are not alone to be worried, I´m as well, everyone in SVK is..we are very afraid to be relegated, this will be the total end, a painful disaster. Hopefully we will avoid this nightmare, we have now to start think about our REALISTIC possibilities and 100% focus for the match against Denmark, this must be our goal here, nothing else This Italy team is for sure more agreable to watch than the team of 2014 around Ihnačák. Definitely has a future. and Bernard was really amazing. our commentators were in fact clearly frustrated of him

Yep, well, Italy was in fact even extremely close to all 3 points, 64 seconds to the end our team tied the score and send the match to overtime... but well, hard to say anything about your chances, because really, we were just a huge mess today, very very poor, our play was bad really bad. It´s already a mistery how we won 2 points today. Italy played well in the second part of the match, but still I must say that it was also thanks our terrible performance, since the half of the match we showed nothing, If we played against stronger team we would lose by a huge margin..but however, You showed some interesting actions and play, and you have a amazing goalie. If Bernard will keep his form, maybe Italy will surprise more teams and gain more unexpected points during the tournament.

Results after 1st Period Group A in Cologne Germany - Sweden 1-1 (1-1,-,-) 06:56 Oliver EKMAN-LARSON 0-1 16:14 Patrick HAGER 1-1 Group B in Paris Norway - France 0-0 (0-0,-,-)

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group B Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Belarus 1 - 6 Czech Republic Period-by-Period: 0-2, 1-1, 0-3 May 6th 2016, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Czechs get the W Belarus falls to 0-2 after 6-1 loss Petr Vrana and Radko Gudas scored in the first to get the Czechs going en route to a convincing 6-1 win over Belarus. The win moves the Czechs to 1-1 while Belarus falls to 0-2. Belarus has yet to beat the Czechs in World Championship play going back to 1998, a skein of eight straight losses. "I think we did a pretty good job on the defensive side of our game," Vrana said. "We were productive up front, too, except for a few moments where we played up and down hockey and gave them a couple of opportunities." The Czechs outshot Belarus by the whopping margin of 45-7. Kevin Lalande was excellent in goal for Belarus before being replaced by Mikhail Karnaukhov with about ten minutes remaining. The game was close until early in the third when Belarus lost all composure and took a series of undisciplined penalties. "We have no excuses," a beleaguered Lalande said after. "It’s frustrating. I don’t have any answers. The Czechs are a good team. They have a lot of skill and some good players who make you pay when you make mistakes. We can’t give them those opportunities. We have to play smart. We have to play in our system. If we don’t do that, it’s going to be 6-1 every night. Our guys better wake up and start playing the right way." The Czechs got on the board first off a nice play. Michal Birner drove down the left wing and watched as Vrana headed for the net. Vrana was covered, but Birner made a perfect pass and Vrana got a stick on it, redirecting the puck past Kevin Lalande at 13:16. "They’re big and strong, and they defend in the neutral zone pretty well," Voracek said. "We were kind of struggling in the first five or seven minutes. Then after Vrana scored that first goal, we settled down a little bit and started playing our game. We were controlling the game the rest of the way." Indeed, four minutes later, the Czechs doubled their lead with a fortuitous score. Jakub Voracek was checked off the puck, but Gudas was there to blast a long shot on goal. It hit Alexander Kulakov in the slot and bounced crazily past Lalande. Early in the second, though, Belarus got right back into it when Yevgeni Lisovets made a seeing-eye, cross-ice pass to Alexander Pavlovich, who wired a one-timer in at 1:13. The goal awoke the Czechs, though, and they dominated much of the rest of the period. Jan Kovar hit the post, and Birner failed to score on a short-handed breakaway, but at 15:38 they restored their two-goal lead. Roman Cervenka made the pass to Roman Horak. He outwaited a defenceman and then Lalande before calmly roofing a shot. Belarus had a great chance to get back into the game when it had two early power plays in the third, but those chances went all for naught. The Czechs added to their lead later in the period with a man-advantage opportunity of their own. Radim Simek's point shot went all the way through at 7:26 to make it 4-1. Two minutes later, the Czecha made it 5-1. Pastrnak tried a Forsberg-style deke on a breakaway, stopped beautifully by Lalande, but the rebound came to an unguarded Voracek who fired it in the empty side at 9:37. Kempny added a final goal off a hard wrister with just 16.7 remaining. Both teams have Sunday off. Belarus plays Canada in the early game on Monday, followed by the Czechs and Finns. "It’ll be a tough game," Voracek said, looking ahead 48 hours. "They’re very good skaters. We’ve just got to be patient and not make mistakes, and hopefully we’re going to be good offensively again."

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group B Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Belarus 1 - 6 Czech Republic Period-by-Period: 0-2, 1-1, 0-3 May 6th 2016, h. 16:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Slovakia OT3 - 2 Italy Period-by-Period: 1-0, 0-1, 1-1, OT: 1-0 May 6th 2016, h. 16:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Ceresnak saves Slovakia Italy so close before OT defeat Italy impresses despite a loss on its top-flight return, taking Slovakia to overtime in a lively afternoon encounter in Cologne. Italy returned to the Elite Pool after a two-year absence – and immediately made its presence felt against Slovakia. The Group A outsider was just 64 seconds from claiming victory when Libor Hudacek tied the game at 2-2. Then, in overtime, Slovakia spared its blushes with a gamewinner from Peter Ceresnak to snatch a victory that was cruel on the brave Italians. Ceresnak's goal came in the new-look three-on-three OT format; the D-man found space out on the blue line and flipped a wrister beyond the reach of the screened Andreas Bernard to grab an unlikely Slovak victory. Slovakia's head coach, Zdeno Ciger, was a relieved man after his team recovered to edge the win. "This was a tough game, especially mentally," he said. "We had a very good start in the first part of the period and we scored, but everything changed after that. We had so many shots, but their goalie played really well. "When they scored that second goal to take the lead, that was a really hard time for us. We are thankful for this win." Italy's Giulio Scandella tried to put a positive spin on a disappointing finish. "Our goalie was definitely screened on the goal, he definitely didn't see it," said the forward. "Our confidence grows when we play these bigger nations. When we get that confidence in our game and don't show the other team too much respect, that's when we play our best hockey." Few expected a great deal from Italy in this game, or indeed this competition. Yet, after a shot-shy opening allowed the Slovaks to claim a first-period lead, Stephan Mair’s underdog bared its fangs in the latter half of the game. Giovanni Morini tied the scores in the 36th minute before Luca Frigo tipped home a Scandella shot early in the third to put Italy up. Admittedly, in the early part of the game, Italy seemed intent on meeting those low expectations. Mair’s roster, largely shorn of dual-nationals, relies heavily on young, locally-developed talent. Early on, those players struggled to adapt to the demands of this level of international hockey, seemingly reluctant to cross the red line in a performance that relied on rugged defence rather than offensive intent. "For the first 10 minutes we gave them too much time in our own end, we played a little scared," said coach Mair. "They came hard and aggressive but the longer the game went on, we adjusted. Our goalie kept us in the game." Bernard's form restricted a leaden Slovakia forward line to a solitary goal. Young defenceman Adam Janosik was the catalyst, seizing the initiative for himself in the seventh minute to surge through centre ice and bang a shot from the left channel into Andreas Bernard’s pads. The goalie allowed a big rebound and Michal Miklik duly swept it up from between the hash marks. Italy almost found an instant response when Alex Lambacher’s no-look pass from behind the net found Daniel Frank, but Julius Hudacek held on from point blank range to preserve his team’s lead. Slovakia continued to hold the edge, with Italy mustering just five shots on goal in the first 30 minutes of play. That brought back echoes of the team’s problems in Minsk when it last graced this stage. Back then, Italy scored just six times in seven games on its way to relegation. But a somewhat careless Slovak penalty changed the flow of this encounter. With Martin Gernat in the box, Italy used its first power play to get a look at life at the other end of the ice. Slovakia killed the penalty, but a couple of minutes later the scores were level. Morini claimed the goal, stuffing home the bouncing puck as it looped off Julius Hudacek following Frigo’s angled shot from out wide. Suddenly this was a different game, and a Slovak team that was also studded with World Championship rookies visibly lost confidence. Early in the final session, Italy scored again: Scandella, one of the wise old heads on Mair’s roster, circled back to a central position before firing a shot into traffic; Frigo got the touch that beat Hudacek and Italy, sensationally, led. "When you get shots from the middle of the ice with guys in front of the net, good things happen," Scandella added. Morini perhaps should have added a third soon afterwards when Scandella found space in the right-hand circle and pushed a tasty feed across the front of the net; the 22-year-old Lugano man couldn’t get a stick to the puck before it slipped to safety. Slovakia sought a response. Miklik came close, but Bernard shut the door at the near post; a time-out with one-and-a-half minutes to play set the stage for a six-man assault. Now Miklik shot again from distance, the rebound went to Libor Hudacek whose effort from a tight angle found the net off Bernard’s chest. Relief for Slovakia, deflation for Italy, which was just 64 seconds from victory. "We could taste those three points near the end," said defenceman Thomas Larkin. "We played stronger as the game went on and it's a shame we only came away with one."

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Slovakia OT3 - 2 Italy Period-by-Period: 1-0, 0-1, 1-1, OT: 1-0 May 6th 2016, h. 16:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne

Here it is. Classical mistake. They played us Slovenian anthem after the win against Italy today. Players and fans became mad https://streamable.com/revw9

Final Results Group A in Cologne Slovakia - Italy 3-2 After Overtime (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, OT: 1-0) 06:58 Michel MIKLÍK 1-0 35:06 Giovanni MORINI 1-1 42:41 Luca FRIGO 1-2 58:56 Libor HUDÁČEK 2-2 Overtime Goal scored at 62:45 by Peter ČEREŠŇÁK 3-2 OT Group B in Paris Belarus - Czech Republic 1-6 (0-2, 1-1, 0-3) 13:16 Petr VRÁNA 0-1 17:30 Radko GUDAS 0-2 21:13 Alexader PAVLOVICH 1-2 35:38 Roman ČERVENKA 1-3 47:26 Radim ŠIMEK 1-4 49:37 Jakub VORÁČEK 1-5 59:44 Michal KEMPNÝ 1-6

Well, total faux-pas of the so-called Germans "precision"...they started to play a wrong anthem, our fans and players became mad and the organizers stoped the hymn but said excuse us, but we haven´t prepared your anthem "Verstehen ! Verstehen!" LOOL I can´t but now back to the game.. So. A big thank you to you all our so called STARS to say a huge F..K OFF to your country when it needed you the most, country which helped you to learn hockey and started your careers, and now you gains millions in the USA. Thank you to say a big F.ck you to all your fans and childrens in the country which follow you and consider you like their idols, thank you to say NO to your country...Total SHAME !!! Disgusting embarassement for our hockey...we will probably fall and be relegated this year, because those players despite to have a Huge pride and big heart havent unfortunately the required quality to belong in this division...After what I saw today, any other win will be a miracle.. So sad

They played us a wrong anthem not sure, but probably the Slovenian

I send you a hint

Results after 2nd Period Group A in Cologne Slovakia - Italy 1-1 (1-0, 0-1,-) 06:58 Michel MIKLIK 1-0 35:06 Giovanni MORINI 1-1 Group B in Paris Belarus - Czech Republic 1-3 (0-2, 1-1,-) 13:16 Petr VRANA 0-1 17:30 Radko GUDAS 0-2 21:13 Alexader PAVLOVICH 1-2 35:38 Roman CERVENKA 1-3

Results after 1st Period Group A in Cologne Slovakia - Italy 1-0 (1-0,-,-) 06:58 Michel MIKLIK 1-0 Group B in Paris Belarus - Czech Republic 0-2 (0-2,-,-) 13:16 Petr VRANA 0-1 17:30 Radko GUDAS 0-2

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 DAY 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAMS PREVIEW Slovakia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JERSEY Home Away ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ciger makes changes Nine new faces in Slovak camp Unable to exit the group stage since 2013, Slovakia is pinning its hopes on a revamped roster in Germany. Nine players could debut in this year's competition. Recent championships have been hard work for Slovakia. Since taking silver behind Russia in 2012, the country has struggled to make much of an impact, missing the knock-out rounds in the last three editions. This season, Zdeno Ciger’s roster is entirely European-based, drawing heavily on players from the Czech League and the KHL. The head coach has called up nine World Championship rookies and the roster has an average age of 26 as Slovakian hockey looks to start a new era. Goal Veteran Jan Laco, 35, is still around to backstop Slovakia. He was the leading goalie on the 2012 roster, saw action in Sochi in 2014 and remains a solid option for his country after a season with Pirati Chomutov in the Czech league. Orebro’s Julius Hudacek, brother of forward Libor, has been the most impressive performer for his country this season and will likely start as #1 here. Jaroslav Janus, once of Slovan Bratislava and now playing for Litvinov, completes the trio. Defence Michal Sersen rates the teams goaltending and defence as its strongest features – and the stats support that. Over the season just gone, Slovakia had the best defensive record in the Eurochallenge, allowing just 12 goals in eight games against a range of opponents from those European nations knocking on the door of international hockey’s “big six”. Sersen, 31 is a key part of Slovakia’s blue line, bringing the experience of six World Championship campaigns and six seasons in the KHL, but this year he has struggled with injury and finished the season in the Slovak Extraliga where he helped Banska Bystrica to the title while boosting his fitness. Edmonton defenceman Andrej Seker has indicated a willingness to join the roster if his NHL playoff campaign comes to an early end, but there are four newcomers in the 25-strong party that travelled to Germany: Michal Cajkovsky (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, KHL), Czech-based Martin Gernat and Peter Trska, and Kosice’s Eduard Sedivy. Forward Vladimir Dravecky wears the ‘C’ for the first time in his senior international career as he returns to the city where he made his World Championship debut in 2010. However, his predominantly defensive style is – in itself – unlikely to fire up an offence that managed just 15 goals in seven games last year. Those problems have continued this season: in eight Eurochallenge games, Slovakia managed 14 goals; only Denmark had fewer. To add some firepower, Ciger has turned to Jakub Suja (HC Kosice), Lukas Cingel, Andrej Kudrna (both Sparta Prague) and Slovak titled winners Tomas Zigo and Tomas Matousek of Banska Bystrica. All five are in line for World Championship debuts in Cologne. Aside from Dravecky, the other experienced man on the roster is Marcel Hascak, a silver medallist in Helsinki in 2012. His preparations for the championship were disrupted by the birth of his son – a happy event that had him shuttling rapidly between Cologne and Slovakia to be with his wife. Coaching Zdeno Ciger, now 47, was one of the players who straddled the transition from Czechoslovak to Czech and Slovak hockey, picking up bronze medals at World Championships for both countries. He also played for Slovakia at the 1998 Olympics. After ending his playing career he became an assistant to Julius Supler on the national team in 2006 before taking up a role with Slovan. Ciger took over as head coach of the national team in September 2015 and is making his second appearance behind the bench at a World Championship. Projected results According to the seeding, Slovakia should manage fourth place in its group – and a QF berth – behind Russia, Sweden and the USA. In recent competitions, though, things haven’t gone to plan. The Slovaks were pipped by Belarus in 2015 despite big travelling support in Ostrava, then last time around Germany took fourth place in the group in St. Petersburg. This time around, the schedule is kind to the team: the opening three games against Italy, Latvia and Denmark are all eminently winnable, and that could be the boost needed to push the team into the last eight for the first time since 2013. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previous Previews France Latvia Slovenia Canada Denmark Italy Belarus United States Russia Finland Sweden Germany Czech Republic Switzerland

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group B Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Switzerland GWS5 - 4 Slovenia Period-by-Period: 4-0, 0-1, 0-3, OT: 0-0, GWS: 1-0 May 6th 2016, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris Switzerland nips Slovenia Swiss blow four-goal lead, but win in shootout Damien Brunner scored the shootout winner as Switzerland blew a four-goal first-period lead but came away with a 5-4 tournament-opening win over Slovenia. In regulation time, Andres Ambuhl, Gaetan Haas, Romain Loeffel, and Denis Bodemann scored for Switzerland. Vincent Praplan had two assists. Robert Sabolic had a goal and an assist, and Jan Mursak, Ziga Jeglic and Jan Urbas also scored for Slovenia. "They took some penalties, and we took advantage and came back," said Urbas. "Too bad we got just one point, but we'll take it." Switzerland is historically known for its solid defensive play. To put it mildly, this isn't the style coach Patrick Fischer wants his men to execute. Meanwhile, Slovenia almost succeeded in completing a comeback of historic proportions at the AccorHotels Arena on Saturday. Only in three cases in IIHF World Championship history has a team lost after holding a four-goal lead. East Germany led Canada 4-0 in 1963 but lost 11-5; Finland led Canada 4-0 in 1990 but lost 6-5; and in the most famous case, Finland led Sweden 5-1 in the 2003 quarter-final in Helsinki, but lost 6-5. "We got the start we wanted," said Switzerland's Cody Almond. "Our first period was fantastic, but then maybe we got a little too comfortable and they took over the game. Then we had some penalty troubles. We have to learn from our mistakes and move forward." The Swiss, who came 11th last year, are seeking their first medal since 2013's surprising silver. Slovenia is newly promoted, and finished 16th and last in its previous top-division stint in 2015. The Slovenians' greatest success ever was coming seventh at the 2014 Olympics. However, nabbing a point here also qualifies as a memorable moment. Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller made his first IIHF appearance since posting a 0.67 GAA and 97.1 save percentage at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The 35-year-old netminder, who played 404 NHL games for Anaheim and Calgary, spent this season with Biel of the Swiss NLA. Switzerland outshot Slovenia 33-23. "It was almost too easy in the beginning," Hiller said. "We got a couple of easy ones, which kind of gave us false confidence. At this level, if you let up by five per cent and the other team plays five per cent better, that's enough to turn the game around." Buoyed by fans chanting “Hopp Schwiiz!”, Tanner Richard set the early tone by bodychecking Urbas into the Swiss bench. Switzerland drew first blood on the power play at 10:49. In the slot, Pius Suter’s checking got the puck to Ambuhl and he stickhandled in to beat Slovenian starting goalie Gaspar Kroselj with a stick-side backhander. Just 12 seconds later, it was 2-0. A forechecking Praplan got the puck to Haas in the faceoff circle, and he whirled to score another stick-side goal. The Swiss took a three-goal lead with 3:01 left in the first. Defenceman Loeffel joined the rush late and winged one off Kroselj’s right post. Bodemann notched the 4-0 goal 48 seconds later, going to the net and backhanding a Damien Brunner rebound home. After 20 minutes, Switzerland had outshot Slovenia 15-5, and it looked like the game was in the bag. But appearances can be deceiving. Slovenian coach Nik Zupancic pulled Kroselj in favor of Matija Pintaric to start the second period. And at 18:31, Mursak, the Slovenian captain who played 46 games for the Detroit Red Wings before jumping to the KHL, finally broke Hiller's shutout bid with a sassy shorthanded tip. Jeglic cut the deficit to 4-2 at 5:50 of the third, racing in and squeezing a backhand through Hiller's pads. The Slovenians capitalized on more opportunities as the Swiss ran into penalty trouble. "We had plenty of scoring chances in the first and not a lot after that," said Hiller. "Playing almost the whole third period on the penalty kill doesn't help." On an extended two-man advantage, Urbas zinged a shot from the slot past Hiller's blocker to make it 4-3 with less than six minutes left. And with 18 seconds left in Philippe Furrer's cross-checking penalty, Sabolic took a pass from Rok Ticar, pivoted off the goal line, and flipped the puck over Hiller to tie the score at 15:23. "We knew we could play against them," said Urbas. "In the first, we just watched them play. We respected them too much, but after that we showed that we deserve to play here." Furrer went off again for hooking with 2:17 left, but this time the Slovenians couldn't cash in. In overtime, Switzerland squandered a glorious 4-on-3 opportunity when Slovenia's Luka Vidmar went off for hooking Haas on a rush to the net. But in the shootout, they got their happy ending. In the stands, a huge banner read, "TAMARA, EPOUSE-MOI" ("Tamara, marry me") -- so possibly there were two happy endings here. This was just the second World Championship meeting ever between these nations. Led by Denis Hollenstein’s four-point outing, Switzerland hammered Slovenia 7-1 in the preliminary round in 2013.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group B Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Switzerland GWS5 - 4 Slovenia Period-by-Period: 4-0, 0-1, 0-3, OT: 0-0, GWS: 1-0 May 6th 2016, h. 12:15, AccorHotels Arena, Paris

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Latvia 3 - 0 Denmark Period-by-Period: 0-0, 1-0, 2-0 May 6th 2016, h. 12:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne Elvis is alive Netminder shuts the door on Denmark Gints Meija's second period goal and Elvis Merzlikins strong goaltending propel Latvia to an improbable but well earned first win. Latvia began the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in fine fashion, defeating Denmark 3-0 at LANXESS arena. Gints Meija’s second period goal would prove the winner while goaltender Elvis Merzlikins stopped all 27 of Denmark's shots on goal to register the shutout. Coming into this game, Denmark defeated Latvia three of the four times they’ve met, including a 3-2 penalty shots win in St. Petersburg in 2016. Latvia weathered an active first period when Denmark threw significant pressure on Merzlikins. Danish skaters kept Merzlikins busy as possible, producing 18 shots in the period from all angles, the point and in front of the net. "Elvis came up with some big plays and shut the door." Bob Hartley said. "Our box play was good and we applied good pressure, which was the plan. But without Elvis making key saves they would have taken the lead and we might not have won." Merzlikins, who is making his second straight appearance on the national team, was tapped by head coach Bob Hartley to start. If Hartley’s name rings a bell, it is because he’s the very same head coach who spent many years behind NHL benches from Colorado to Calgary. In fact, when the World Championships were in Germany in 2001, Hartley was preparing his Colorado Avalanche team for the NHL playoffs. They would go on to win the Stanley Cup that spring. While Denmark put a lot of pressure on Latvia in the first period they were not able to score. Forward Mads Christensen was active in the period, creating space for himself and getting off four shots but was unable to get on the scoreboard. "I thought we played a strong first period." Head coach Jan Karlsson said after the game. "We came out and worked really hard and playing at a top level. Latvia played a good box but we needed to create more scoring than we did. Overall, very good first period. We should have scored one or two goals." The tide turned in the second period when Latvia reversed their fortunes and began to apply more force in the offensive zone. At 3:08 Gints Meija put his team on the board. Arturs Kulda cycled the puck in the Danish zone and found Meija in front of the net. Meija’s initial shot was saved but he continued to keep his skates moving forward and fought past defenseman Markus Lauridsen to pick up his own rebound and deposit it into the net. Latvia had several more scoring opportunities in the period but were unable to convert. Still, they had changed the momentum and put it squarely on their side. Denmark was forced to play back on its heels. Latvia opened up a two goal lead when Miks Indrasis rifled a shot past Denmark netminder Sebastien Dahm. Indrasis was set up thanks to a nifty slot pass from Janis Sprukts. The goal came at 1:48 of the third period. Later, Denmark found themselves down two men when Mads Christensen was called for tripping and Peter Regin for high sticking. Latvia did not let the advantage slip. Indrasis added a power play goal to make it 3-0 and put the game well out of reach. Prior to this tournament Hartley has said his focus is to keep things simple and take one step at a time. Hartley has brought in, like Ted Nolan before him, a keen sense of doing the little things right that will lead to good habits in games that count. The approach seems to have worked as Latvia was strong over the final forty minutes of play. Denmark must now go back to the drawing board and reassess. The tournament is still young but the Danes will have to work to improve their game, which started strong but seemed to fall flat by the third period when they managed only three shots on goal. The first of three games today at LANXESS arena, Latvia-Denmark was well attended as 13,453 took in the game.

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary Round DAY 2 Group A Central European Summer Time (GMT +2) Latvia 3 - 0 Denmark Period-by-Period: 0-0, 1-0, 2-0 May 6th 2016, h. 12:15, LANXESS Arena, Cologne