Latvia Stuns the Hosts, Slovakia and Switzerland on Scoring Surge – 03.12.2018

The first big surprise of the tournament came on Sunday evening at the O2 Arena when Latvia defeated the home team of the Czech Republic 4-3, making their way through the tournament significantly more complicated. On the other hand, Slovakia and Switzerland outclassed their opponents by a large margin. The Slovaks demolished Japan 15-1, while Switzerland thrashed Germany 13-1. The tournament also saw its first draw – the match between Canada and Singapore ended 4-4.

Denmark – Norway 3-9 (3-2, 0-5, 0-2)

The Sunday’s program started with the match between Denmark and Norway. For both of these traditional rivals it was their first game at this year’s championship. The Danes were in a narrow one-goal lead after the first period and could think about a good result. But from the second period Norway clearly dominated, turned the score around with seven goals and led the match to a sweeping victory. Ole Mossin Olesen excelled with five points for two goals and three assists, while his teammate Markus Lindgjerdet scored a hat-trick and added one assist.

Slovakia – Japan 15-1 (7-0, 4-0, 4-1)

The Slovaks burst into their second championship match in high style, just like they did in the first one. With just four minutes into the game they were up by four goals and kept increasing their lead. The only blot on their crushing victory was the only goal by the Japanese players, who didn’t start the tournament in the best of ways. As many as three Slovaks scored a a hat-trick in the match – Dudovič, Ujhelyi and Čonka-Skyba.

Switzerland – Germany 13-1 (4-0, 3-0, 6-1)

Germany showed a great performance in their opening match against the Czech Republic and for sure planned to repeat it today as well. But Switzerland didn’t allow any complications and completely smashed their opponents. Four Swiss players posted their first career points at the Men’s World Championships, with the best of them, the nineteen-year-old Deny Känzig, recording as many as 6 points (4+2). The Swiss goalie Patrick Eder could have experienced an absolutely flawless Men’s World Championship debut too. He was only 3.5 minutes away from a shutout, but conceded a power-play goal by Erik Schuschwary.

Canada – Singapore 4-4 (1-2, 1-2, 2-0)

Fans of aggressive floorball had a field day. There were a total of ten penalties awarded, including three five-minute penalties. In the first period, Kuysten of Canada even saw a red card! But Singapore didn’t manage to convert any of their power-plays, whereas team Canada scored three times in the one-man advantage, which helped them level the score. On each side there was one player who scored two goals – Juin Jie Ng for Singapore and Valtteri Viitakoski for Canada.

Latvia – Czech Republic 4-3 (0-1, 3-1, 1-1)

Following their unconvincing performance in the match against Germany, the Czechs wanted to prove they are still one of the world’s top floorball teams. But they didn’t succeed. And we can’t say it was undeserved. It was an absolutely tight game for two periods and only in the third the Latvians focused purely on defense whereas the Czechs were setting the pace of the match. However, it was in the third period when the decisive Latvian goal was scored. Atis Stepans’s accurate shot from a quick breakaway found the top corner of the net. The duo Ondrušek (2+1) and Delong (1+2) were involved in all Czech goals.

Estonia – Poland 4-3 (0-1, 2-1, 2-1)

The last match of the first weekend offered a tough battle between Estonia and Poland. Both teams presented themselves with a fierce and well-organized defense supported by great saves of their goalies. In the course of time, Poland built a two-goal lead, but Estonia fought back and leveled the score at 2-2 before the second intermission. In the third period, Lukasz Chlebda completed a hat-trick and sent the Poles into the lead one more time. But the Estonians set the alarm bells ringing and managed to turn the score around. In the final minutes they resisted a crushing Polish pressure and celebrated a 4-3 win.