Czechia finished their preliminary play in Group B of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC) with a 4-2 win over Switzerland. Switzerland also completed its preliminary play and was hoping to get another win on the board after their last victory over Norway on Saturday (Dec. 30). As for Czechia, they were turning heads nearly beating the highly favored Team USA but falling to them 4-3. Both teams will advance to the knockout round after this game and have some tough opponents ahead of them.
Czechia kicked off the first period with a goal by Matyáš Šapovaliv at 12:04 while on the power play with a nice feed in front of the net from Matyáš Melovský and Tomáš Hamara. Czechia scored again at 10:05 in the second period with a tap-in goal from Robin Sapoušek while crashing inside the crease. Switzerland then clapped back with two goals near the end of the second to make it 2-2 heading into the third. In the third period, Switzerland tried to mount a comeback, but Czechia did not let up getting the go-ahead goal from Jiři Kulich at 12:47 and then the final goal by Hamara at 15:18 to cap the victory at 4-2. This was Czechia’s second victory in the tournament and placed them third in their group.
Czechia Laying the Pressure
The amount of pressure that Czechia was putting on Switzerland was overwhelming with the final shots resulting in a total of 35-19 in Czechia’s favor. By the end of the second, Czechia was up 26-9 so the differential was still pretty intense. Their power play was the one to point out as they were very in tune compared to their first game against Slovakia and since then have improved a lot. We also saw Czechia show the same amount of pressure against Norway finishing their shot totals in that game at 40-21.
All of the credit for this dominance comes from Czechia’s ability to draw penalties recently which also sparked top forwards Eduard Šalé and Kulich as their go-to players for points heading into this tournament. The Czechs also played with a little more aggression and showed more of a presence in winning puck battles and there was some great face-off work from Šapovaliv who once again got their first goal of the game to set the tone. Overall, Czechia has been waking up and players like Šalé, Kulich, and Šapovaliv are starting to take charge and reignite their energy just the way it was in last year’s WJC.
Beglieri Prevented a Czechia Blowout
A lot of credit should go to Swiss goaltender Alessio Beglieri who, despite the loss, has been great this tournament. If it wasn’t for his solid goaltending in this game, Switzerland would probably have been blown out with the amount of shots they allowed. He finished the game with 31 saves on 35 shots and the blame can’t be put onto him with the effort he put into keeping his team alive. His work in the net was enough to hold Czechia off for Switzerland to tie the game 2-2 before the end of the second. It’s safe to say he gave Czechia a hard time finding some success in the goal department and nearly prevented them from taking the lead. After this game, this may open up some opportunities to gain some recognition from NHL teams since he was undrafted.
Related: 2024 World Junior Championship Guide
Belgieri came in after poor performances from Swiss goaltenders Ewan Huet and Lorin Gruter against Team USA. After that, he got the nod to start the rest of their games with a great performance in Switzerland’s first game against Slovakia where he stopped 17 shots and allowed one goal. In total, he’s only allowed seven goals the entire tournament and will most likely earn the trust of head coach Jenni Marcel to be their starter in the knockout round. He’ll have the ultimate test against Sweden heading into the quarter-finals but has proven so far that he is a top-10 goaltender in this tournament.
Czechia Offense in Tune
One of the concerns after losing to Slovakia 6-2 in their opening matchup was Czechia’s goalscoring, despite having lots of options and a lot of grit in their offensive lines. There was no sight of Šalé or Kulich and they looked flat-footed at winning over the puck on the boards. Fast forward to their games against Norway and even the USA, they played with more of a fast-paced drive than before. Kulich and Šalé both scored a hat trick against Norway to build some confidence in their playing ability. They have the speed and strength to play a counter-attacking game and are using it to their advantage as a result. Another thing to point out is they made a lot of changes to their lines such as placing Šalé on the second line where there’s been a lot of success with Melovský and Sapoušek. This resulted in Melovský tying with Kulich at seven points to lead Czechia with the most points on the team.
However, it is Kulich who everyone was eyeing considering his NHL and American Hockey League (AHL) experience and his stellar performance last year in the WJC. Šalé and Kulich just needed some time to adjust to their opponents and the fast-paced system that was in place.
Against Switzerland, there was a lot of presence from defensemen Hamara and Tomáš Galvas to generate offense when the puck was near the blue line. As a result, they had a lot of chances generated on the power play and are the reason why the puck was in Czechia’s offensive zone for a majority of the game. They also made sure to close out any chances on the boards in their defensive zone to prevent Switzerland from making any one-time passes. Near the end of the game, the bottom six players were able to shut down any shooting lanes and successfully shut out any chances for Switzerland. Czechia will have a chance to prove their offensive strength when they play Canada in the quarter-finals on Tuesday (Jan. 2).
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