The Czech ice hockey team defeated Switzerland 2-0 in the final after a thrilling battle. It was the hosts’ 13th World Championship title.
Czech ice hockey team has used the home advantage perfectly and for the first time since 2010 World Cup gold The host team defeated in Prague on Sunday in the final Switzerland 2-0 (0:0,0:0,2:0) and won the title for the seventh time overall. Star striker David Pastrnak decided the game, which had long been dominated by the defense, with his goal in the 50th minute.
Pastrnak had strengthened the Czechs during the tournament after the Boston Bruins were knocked out of the NHL playoffs and had failed to score a point in his three previous games. But when it counted, the 28-year-old was there. He beat the Swiss goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni with a powerful shot and sent the 17,500 spectators in the sold-out O2 Arena into ecstasy. David Kampf put the finishing touches 19 seconds before the final whistle.
For the Czechs, it was the first World Championship medal on home ice in 32 years, when they won bronze as CSFR in 1992. It crowned a two-and-a-half-week ice hockey party with a great atmosphere and a new World Championship attendance record of 797,727 visitors in the halls in Prague and Ostrava.
Third silver medal for Switzerland
For Switzerland, it was their third defeat in their third final appearance. In 2013 and 2018, the Swiss lost to Sweden in the final.
In the afternoon, Sweden won a medal for the first time since 2018. The three-crown team beat last year’s dethroned world champions Canada 4-2 (1-0, 0-1, 3-1) in the match for third place and took bronze.
The Swedes, who had travelled with many NHL stars, took the lead through Carl Grundström (13th minute), Dylan Cozens with his ninth goal of the tournament (23rd minute) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (45th minute) turned the game around. In the finish, however, Erik Karlsson (50th minute), Grundström (54th minute) and Marcus Johansson (60th minute/EN) ensured a conciliatory end for the Swedes. Record world champions Canada came away empty-handed for the first time in six years.