Czech Republic wins easy without shining
11 May 2012 | Fredrik Pålsson
The Czechs didn't had to play at their best to beat a weak Italian side 6-0.
The Czech Republic was many classes better than Italy and won the game very comfortable even if they played far from their best. "We played a bit relaxed. We shot a lot today. I think the guys enjoyed it", Czech coach Hadamczik said after the game.
Petr Caslava scored two goals in the second period, the first one finished off a three on one counter attack when the Czechs were playing shorthanded, the second one was for 5-0 and was scored from the blue line. Petr Nedved, Jiri Novotny, Ales Hemsky and Martin Erat was the other goal scorers for the Czechs. Erat playing his first game of this tournament.
Erat didn't agree on that it was an easy game "At the World Championship no games are easy". He also said that it wasn't easy coming over from NHL and now playing here. "It's totally different hockey. I haven't played on large rink for like five or six years and don't even remember when". On how he can refocus after being eliminated from the NHL playoffs he said "It's hard to forget, it's in the back of my head but here I have to focus on this".
Italy is just not good enough to shake a team like the Czech Republic and they will have a really tough finish to the tournament as they have both Russia and Sweden left to play. As it would be a huge sensation for Italy took any points in these games they will have to rely on Denmark not winning any games to remain in the Elite division of the World Championship. Today they were never really close to score and Jakub Stepanek had an easy journey for the shutout.
Coach Rick Cornacchia was dejected after the game "We have to catch then on a bad day. We have a 3 on 1 and can't even get a shot on goal. I can't understand it, how are we going to score if we don't shoot?", the coach asked himself after the game.