Czechs Outlast Matt Dalton to Defeat South Korea 2-1

The Czech Republic have kicked off their 2018 Olympic tournament with a 2-1 victory over the hosts from South Korea on Thursday evening.

It didn't take long for the Koreans to get their first-ever Olympic goal in men's ice hockey competition. At 7:34, legendary South Korean player Min-Ho Cho made it 1-0 after surprising Pavel Francouz with a quick shot, beating him blocker side to give Korea their first ever lead at a top-level international hockey tournament.

11:59, the Czechs answered back. Veteran forward Jan Kovar made it 1-1 after tipping in Michael Repik's pass at the doorstep past Matt Dalton, giving the Czechs some life after a few quality chances were stopped by the former Boston Bruins prospect.

Before the first period was over, the Czechs got another one to take over the lead. Francouz did a great job getting the puck down the ice before Repik took the pass. Repik would get stopped on his initial scoring chance but tapped in the goal on his own rebound, sneaking in behind Dalton to make it 2-1.

As often is the case for South Korea, Matt Dalton was a man on a mission. Dalton made 38 saves in a big effort for the host nation, stopping every shot that came his way in the final 40 minutes. He kept his team in the game when they looked gassed in the second half of the game, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough as the Czech Republic skated away with the 2-1 victory on Thursday evening.

The Czechs will try to keep their perfect record intact when they play Team Canada on Saturday afternoon at 12:10 local time. Korea will hope they can get a few lucky bounces over a typically strong defensive Swiss team on Saturday, who lost 5-1 to open up their tournament against the Canadians on Thursday.

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