Czech and American hockey players have a lot of experience with bronze medal games at the World Championships. Who will collect the medals for third place in Tampere? The Czechs also want to beat their opponents hard, as the overseas team ends the tournament with a heavily decimated defense.
Tampere (from our correspondent) – The Americans have four bronze medals in the last eight World Hockey Championships. Last year in Riga, in a duel of disappointed semi-finalists, they managed to beat the Germans, and they beat the Czechs again in Prague seven years ago.
Overall they have a dramatically unfavorable 0-11 record in World Cup semi-finals since the play-off system was introduced in 1992, so they will be playing for bronze today for the eleventh time. So far they have succeeded six out of ten times.
On Saturday against Finland, the American selection did not perform badly, in the end the favorite home team caught up, but lost 3:4. Moreover, he played a grueling game with just four defenders.
Nick Blankenburg, Caleb Jones and Jon Merrill were injured during the tournament. Jaycob Megna returned home after winning the quarter-final.
“I play with him in San Jose, I think he went home because of the birth,” said Czech defender Radim Šimek. “We have to put the defenders under pressure so that they don’t feel comfortable. It will be that way,” he continued.
Captain Seth Jones spent nearly 32 minutes on the ice against the Finns. The times of the other defenders? Nate Schmidt, 27:10. Andrew Peeke, 25:26. Luke Hughes, 22:28. Forward Sam Lafferty (16:22) sometimes jumped in as a fifth back.
“These guys worked like horses, they did a great job for us,” said American striker Austin Watson. “Hats off for what Jones is doing. I saw their semi-final and it looked like he was on the ice the whole time,” Simek said.
“It was a pleasure to watch him, but maybe it’s because the Finns fell back in the middle zone. The defenders then feel comfortable. On the other hand, we have to caress them a few times,” said explained the defender, who is playing at the World Cup after five years.
The only players from the Czech team to have a World Cup medal in the adult category are elite attack members Roman Červenka (gold 2010, bronze 2011) and David Krejčí (bronze 2012).
After unsuccessful battles for bronze in the 2014, 2015 and 2019 championships, and even the 2018 Olympics, the Czechs are really hungry.
On Saturday they clearly lost to Canada 1:6, unlike USA they weren’t in the promotion game until the last moment. “We really wanted to go to the final, but now we have to prepare to leave everything on the ice,” captain Červenka said after the loss.
“I have experience from the farm, where we were able to lose 0:6 and the next day we beat the same team 5:0. We have to put the defeat in the semi-finals behind us, they still see medals there,” Simek said.
“I don’t think I need to motivate anyone. We still have a chance to win a medal,” said Czech coach Kari Jalonen. The teams will meet for the second time in the tournament, the Czechs won the group thanks to the goal of Matěj Blümel 1:0.
“I wouldn’t say it will be the same game. The Americans started to play very well after our duel. But we are focusing on ourselves so that we can improve. Our performance must be at the top,” noted the Finnish coach.
The match between the Czech Republic and the USA starts at 2:20 p.m. You can watch the battle for the bronze medal online on the Aktuálně.cz website.
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