Sunday evening belonged to the USA x Czech republic game held at the RT TORAX ARENA. The overseas team presented their supremacy from the very beginning. The team didn’t let the Czech Republic do anything and led 2:0 after the first period. The Americans didn’t back down even in the second period of the game, supported by the fact that they managed to score six goals. The Czechs tried, in vain, to find a way through the American defence to the US goalpost, which was unconquerable. On the contrary, the USA team added two more goals in the last period, which resulted in a final score of 10:0.
The USA para hockey players broke into the offensive zone immediately after the initial throw-in, where Pauls aimed to score from the right side, but Zych didn’t manage to catch his pass. The Czech para hockey team’s face-offs were not successful, and therefore the game mostly took place in front of Kudela’s post. The Americans, who were the home team today, won the face-off in front of the Czech goalkeeper and charged towards the goal, but Easly’s attempt was not successful. After less than a minute, we saw Farmer passing the puck to Nichols, who was waiting in front of the goalpost, and although the goal was almost completely exposed, the home player with the number 18 on his back wasn’t able to process the puck. After a while, Declan Farmer slipped into the zone, bypassed three Czech players and shot the puck flying under the crossbar, opening the game score – 1:0. On the other side of the rink, the Czechs got to the goal, but neither Palát nor Krupička managed to score which meant that LaMarre scored without any problems. Wallace then moved around the visiting goal but had no space to finish his action. Ohar then excellently stopped the US offence during a short-handed play. Wallace then found Bolton uncovered, but his shot was out of bounds. Wallace found himself in front of the goalpost once again and passed to Bolton, but the Czech team was able to cope with this action. It didn’t, however, take long for America to increase its lead. Wallace received the puck in the neutral zone, and passed to Brody Roybal, who scored, hitting the upper part of the goal – 2:0, Kudela had no chance. The very active home team didn’t let Kudela catch his breath. At one point, it looked like the Czech team could get some good action into play, but neither Krupička nor Hábl managed to direct the puck into the goal. Roybal then moved between circles and was about to shoot, but he left the puck behind.
An American whirlwind in the second period
The second period didn’t start well for the Czech para hockey team. The USA changed the score to 3:0 after the first 49 seconds of play when Roybal passed the puck to Declan Farmer, who shot and scored. A moment later, the score changed again to 4:0, because a well-prepared Evan Nichols, waiting on the left side of the goal knocked the puck into the net. The next goal was scored at 17:23 when the puck fell out of Kudela’s catcher, and Josh Pauls took advantage from the circle – 5:0. The Czechs had a chance to balance out the score gap, but Geier was disarmed behind the American goal, and LaMarre had no trouble dealing with Sedláček’s shot. It was the Americans who then came through with another shot. Dodson found Rob Easley, who got the puck over a laying Kudela – 6:0. The Czech team substituted their goalkeepers at 21:35, Martin Kudela was replaced by Michal Vápenka. The new goalkeeper stopped the puck behind the post, but didn’t notice that Travis Dodson, who rode around the goalpost made a successful shot – 7:0. Two minutes later, the US team moved into the zone with ease, Nichols got the puck under Vápenka and Declan Farmer finished it off – 8:0, completing his hat-trick!
The Americans changed their goalkeeper before the last period, even during today’s game. However, the new goalie didn’t have much work as the Czechs did not score a single goal in the final period. Noah Grove added the ninth goal of the game at 35:05, shooting the puck over Vápenka – 9:0. The final goal came less than 4 minutes before the end when Josh Pauls nimbly slipped into the zone and got the puck underneath the Czech goalkeeper’s glove and into the goal – 10:0.
Best players:
USA – Travis Dodson
CZE – Václav Hečko
Goals: 3. Farmer (Pauls), 9. Roybal (Wallace), 16. Farmer (Roybal, Wallace), 17. Nichols (Farmer, Jones), 18. Pauls (Farmer), 20. Easley (Eustace, Dodson), 24. Dodson, 26. Farmer (Nichols), 36. Grove (Farmer), 42. Pauls.
Suspensions: 4:6. Power play: 2:0. Short-handed play: 1:0. Referees: Soraperra – Hus, Oswald.
USA: LaMarre (41. McCoy) – Dequebec, Wallace, Pauls (C), Eustace – Roybal, Dodson, Bolton, Woodke, Easley, Musselman, Zych, Farmer (A), Nichols, Jones, Witkowski, Grove, Misiewicz, McKee
CZE: Kudela (22. Vápenka) – Zelinka (C), Wágner, Kubeš, Doležal – Novotný (A), Ohar, Veselý, Geier, Sedláček, Hečko (A), Krupička, Hábl, Palát
Tomorrow is a day off, but on Tuesday we can look forward to more games. Team USA against Team Canada at 16:00 and a game between the Czech Republic and the IPH team at 19:00.
Text: Klára Bártková Photo: Radim Horák
