Germany Saves Czechs by Beating Latvia, Nordic Powers Post Convincing Wins – 04.12.2018

Following yesterday’s failure by the Czech team hardly anyone expected a similar surprise today, but Germany sensationally overcame Latvia, thus securing the second position in group A to the Czech Republic. Singapore defeated Japan thanks to a perfect third period, while Finland and Sweden showed their strength against other Nordic opponents.

Singapore – Japan 9-5 (4-3, 1-2, 4-0)

The opening match of the third day was played in front of fantastic audience of 6,341 spectators, who saw Singaporean victory. Based on the two teams’ encounters at previous world championships a close match was expected. But this applied only partially. Although the score of the match was long quite tight, Singapore was dominated in the rink and controlled the pace of the game. But still the score after two periods was tied at 5-5. The Japanese players benefited mainly from quick breakaways and from Ichiro Ueda’s hat-trick. However, early in the third period the Singaporeans turned up the heat and built the decisive lead with four goals. Zubir, Sutiman, and Pasupathy scored two goals each for the winning side.

Latvia – Germany 4-5 (2-1, 1-0, 1-4)

From the very first minutes it was apparent that the match will be a big battle, in which none of the teams will give an inch to the other. Latvia was up by one after the first period. After they opened the score, Germany answered with a power-play goal, but half a minute before the first break the Latvians were back up by one goal and doubled their lead after the break. The second period was mainly dominated by both goalies, who showed some great saves and significantly helped their teams. The last period was then fully controlled by the Germans. First they turned the score around with three goals and later quickly reacted to the Latvian equalizer. With 2:20 remaining in the third period, Benjamin Borth decided about the first German win at the tournament. This goal also secured a quarterfinal spot for the Czech team from the second place at worst.

Australia – Poland 4-2 (1-0, 1-1, 2-1)

Australia wanted to grab their first group-stage win against Poland. They chose very clear tactics for this – the best defense is defense. The Aussies’ goalie locked the goal and it took the Poles almost two periods to find a way past his magic. The first goal of the match was scored at 17:49. Australia was awarded a penalty shot, which Tomas Gartner turned into a goal with a smart deke. The last name Gartner was involved in the second Australian too. Tomas’ brother Daniel passed to Liam Perry, who found the net behind the Polish goalie for the second time. Poland answered only late in the second period. Michal Sienko sent a long-range effort on goal at 39:50 and to everyone’s surprise the ball ended in the net. In the third period, the Australians kept carefully defending their narrow lead. And when Kade Ebeling scored a shorthanded third goal, it became clear that it would be very difficult for the Poles to win any points in this game at all. The Europeans managed to reduce the gap after a cooperation of the Sinko brothers – Michal assisted on Maciej’s shot – but that’s all the Aussies allowed. They definitely sealed their win with an empty-net goal that finalized the score at 4-2.

Finland – Denmark 7-1 (5-1, 1-0, 1-0)

The Finns wanted to win their first points after losing to Sweden in their opening match. Their determination was apparent mainly in the first period when they set the pace of the game from the very beginning and went into a quick lead. And they kept increasing it until it was 5-0. Only after the first scored goal Denmark pull themselves together and at least improved their defense, which saved them from a potential debacle. Although their finishing was helpless, neither the Finns were able to break through the Danish defensive wall. Two exceptions helped set the final score at 7-1.

Estonia – Thailand 11-4 (6-2, 2-1, 3-1)

Estonia challenged Thailand to an offensive duel in front of a solid crowd at Arena Sparta. Both teams were cheered on by large groups of fans that were shouting each other down. The Asians went into the lead in the fifth minute with Pawat Thaidit’s goal and his celebration really whipped up the Thai fans. But Estonia managed to reply quickly with a blue-and-black scoring surge. The score after the first period stopped at 6:2. The scoring race slowed down in the remainder of the match. After the second period Estonia had were up 8-3 and especially Kristo Lehiste’s beautiful goal with the back of his stick in the 37th minute and Rickard Rydell’s hat-trick are worth mentioning. The third period offered a peaceful pace – the winner has already been quite clear, so both teams wanted to enjoy floorball and show many nice combinations to the fans. The final score was 11-4 for Estonia, who won all thre group-stage games and easily advanced to the next phase of the tournament.

Sweden – Norway 9-1 (3-0, 4-0, 2-1)

In their second match, Sweden continued in their winning mood from the opening match against the defending champions from Finland. Thanks to consistent performance in all three periods they easily added two more points in the group B table. Although the Norwegians presented themselves with offensive floorball, especially early in the match, they managed to score only one single goal, which came as late as four seconds before the end. On the other hand, Sjögren and Nilsson scored two goals each for Sweden and Jonas Svahn posted a goal and two assists. With this victory, the Swedes can be sure they will advance to the quarterfinals from the first position. Norway will battle for direct advancement to the quarterfinals with the reigning world champions from Finland.