Day 2 from the Czech Republic brought six more games and more solid performances from CHL players, including a two-point effort from TPS defenceman Jakub Nakladal.

by Derek O'Brien, with contributions from Staff Writers

PRAGUE and OSTRAVA – The last eight teams played their first games of the 2015 IIHF World Championship on Saturday, while four other teams played their second.

The first games of the day both were decided in game-winning shots, with Austria coming from behind three times to beat Switzerland in Prague, while Slovakia edged Denmark in Ostrava.

“It's really great. Switzerland has been a pretty good team the last few years and they showed it right from the start today too,” said Austrian captain Thomas Raffl, one of seven players on the squad from EBEL champions Red Bull Salzburg. “We were behind 1–0 right away and we battled back, so this gives us a lot of confidence coming back against a team like that.”

Up next, Germany got a goal with a minute left to edge France 2–1 in Prague, while Belarus got by Slovenia 4–2 in Ostrava. HC Pardubice's Robert Kristian stopped 22 of 25 shots for Slovenia before the Belarusians put it away with an empty-netter.

“It's a good feeling, it was close. We knew they would come hard, but we found a way to win the game and I'm happy,” veteran Daniel Pietta of the Krefeld Pinguine said about Germany's victory. He knows it won't be easier in their second game on Sunday afternoon against Canada, though. “Canada is a good hockey team, so we'll just try to stay good defensively and if we get chances we have to score. It will be a tough game, so we have to regenerate now and play tomorrow.” 

In the nightcap in Prague, the host Czechs got their first victory of the tournament, scoring three times in the second period to beat Latvia 4–2. Jakub Nakladal of TPS Turku had two assists for the Czechs, both on the power play. Meanwhile, Norway had a better start against the Americans than they did against Russia, but still lost 2–1 in Ostrava. 
 
“Yesterday we got a lesson in how to play hockey, but maybe we needed it looking back. Today we came out and played a much better game, had more speed, and played all lines throughout the whole game,” said Norway's goal scorer, Morten Ask, who played four CHL games for Valerenga Oslo this past season. “We have to repeat lot of thing things we did today and improve on some aspects of the game, to score some more goals and win some more games.”

Sunday is another full day of action with six games on the slate. When the day is done all 16 teams will have played two games.