Disappointed honest players after the debacle by the Finns 1-6 at the Swedish ice hockey games in Malmö on February 11, 2023.
Malmö (Sweden) – At the Swedish Games in Malmö, the Czech hockey players did not follow up on Thursday's 2:1 overtime win over Sweden and lost to Finland 1:6. They have to knock down the biggest defeats they suffered during the year of Finnish coach Kari Jalonen's tenure, together with the result of the semi-final of last year's World Cup against Canada (also 1:6). According to the defender Jakub Jeřábek, it is necessary to prepare the head already for Sunday's duel with Switzerland.
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“I think we had a pretty good start, unfortunately there were two such situations when we let the Finns outnumber us and then we didn't skate there, from which we got two goals. We wanted to go into the second period with the fact that we didn't want to change anything , but unfortunately we conceded goals after our lack of emphasis. In my opinion, that lack of emphasis was the main reason today,” Jeřábek told journalists.
After conceding four goals in the second period, the Czechs were already losing 0:6, but in the end they did not concede the highest defeat in the history of an independent national team. This is the result of 0:7 from the Swedish Games in Stockholm in February 2012, where the then wards of the current president of Czech hockey, Alois Hadamczik, also lost to Finland.
“We had a bit of a blanket on us, we tried to keep our heads up, but unfortunately it was only enough for one goal,” said Jeřábek. The team tried to adjust to an improved performance in the second break. “We said to ourselves that we want to win at least the third period, that we definitely don't want to wrap it up and that we want to put a little pressure on them. We managed to score that one goal, but the opponent was more aggressive and assertive.”
The reason for this the participant of two World Cups in 2016 and 2017 as well as last year's Olympic Games in Beijing with NHL experience was looking for a break. “The main thing was the lack of emphasis. And how many times we made it unnecessarily complicated. Instead of simply playing pucks from the third, we returned them. There were a few situations like that with the Swedes, we showed it on video, but the Finns they punished. I think that from the middle of the third period the match was just finishing,” said Jeřábek.
On Sunday, the Czechs will finish the tournament again at noon against Switzerland. “We will definitely have a meeting. We need to get our heads back. A lot of guys will be playing the second game in two days, so we'll talk about it and we have to switch to the next game now,” added fullback Třince.
