Three teams with a strong CHL presence won their quarter-final games on Thursday in Minsk, with Sparta Prague's Tomas Rolinek and IFK Helsinki's Iiro Pakarinen scoring big goals for the Czech Republic and Finland, respectively. The Kloten Flyers' Peter Mueller had three assists in a losing cause for the USA.
by Derek O'Brien, with contribution from Roman Zajíček and Michal Slavík
MINSK - The quarter-finals at the IIHF World Championships were played on Thursday, and Champions Hockey League players figured prominently in the outcome of three of the games.
In the first game of the day at Chizhovka Arena, the Czech Republic edged the USA 4-3, with five points being recorded by CHL players. For the Czechs, Sparta Prague's Tomas Rolinek found a loose puck in the crease to tie the score 1-1 in the first period.
"The coaches told us to take long shots on their goalie (Tim Thomas), then go to the net. That's how the first goal happened," said Rolinek, the captain of the Czech team. "It doesn't matter what it looks like, we'll take it."
Peter Mueller of the Kloten Flyers assisted on all three American goals, including two scored by Tyler Johnson in the final 1:10 to close the score from 4-1 to 4-3. That's as close as they would get, however.
"We wanted to keep our (three-goal) lead to make it as difficult for them as possible," Rolinek continued. "At the end, though, it got pretty nerve-wracking. In this tournament, it's difficult to play a full 60 minutes without facing any adversity, and we saw that here today."
In the semi-finals, the Czechs will face Finland, who beat Canada 3-2 in the later game at Chizhovka. Olli Palola of Tappara Tampere opened the scoring in the first period, Canada answered with two goals in the second to take a 2-1 lead, and then the Finns replied with two more of their own, with IFK Helsinki's Iiro Pakarinen scoring the winning goal with just 3:08 on the clock.
"It was a great pass from Joeri Lehtera into the middle and I just shot for the five-hole," Pakarinen described after the game. On the third period comeback, he said, "Canada played very well in the second period and we got that goal at the beginning of the third period. I think that was really the key moment."
The two quarter-finals at Minsk Arena were won by the favoured teams, even if they weren't easy. First, Russia shut out France 3-0, ending the dream run by the French. The tournament's other Cinderalla team, host Belarus, led Sweden 2-1 in the second period before ultimately falling 3-2. Lulea's Linus Klasen assisted on Nicklas Danielsson's game-opening goal and Skelleftea's Joakim Lindstrom assisted on Gustav Nyquist's goal late in the second period to tie it at 2.
"It was a tough game, Belarus played realy well," said Lindstrom, whose 8 points in the tournament lead both Team Sweden and all CHL players. "We came out of the first period strong. In the second period they played a little better than us, but over 60 minutes we created more chances than them and it was a nice win for us."
On advancing to the semi-finals against Russia, Dick Axelsson said, "They have a good team and it's going to be unbelievable. I'm happy to be here."
Saturday's semi-finals will include several players from CHL clubs, including:
Russia - Sweden, 13:45 CET
SWE: Simon Hjalmarsson, Mattias Sjogren, Daniel Rahimi (all Linkoping), Jonas Ahnelov, Joel Lundqvist (both Frolunda), Magnus Nygren (Farjestad), Joakim Lindstrom, Jimmie Ericsson, Oscar Moller (all Skelleftea), Johan Fransson (Lulea).
Finland - Czech Republic, 17:45 CET
FIN: Pekka Jormakka, Olli Palola (both Tappara), Iiro Pakarinen (HIFK).
CZE: Tomas Rolinek (Sparta), Ondrej Vitasek (Liberec).