Czech Republic and Russia shine in Goyang

The USA's Greg Shaw goes in for the puck during the Americans' 7-0 win against Sweden in Goyang, Korea. © • IPC

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"Our goal is to win and only to win here, and we’re ready to win from both the physical and emotional point of view.”

The Czech Republic’s 3-1 win over Norway and Russia’s 2-1 victory against host nation Korea highlighted the first day of action at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships on Saturday (13 April) in Goyang, Korea.

The Czechs won a fiercely fought game against the Norwegians by outshooting their opponents 24-9 behind two early goals by forward Jiri Raul.

Audun Baake was the lone player to find the net for Norway, keeping his team within one score for much of the final period. However, David Palat chipped in a shot with 29 seconds to go in the game to seal the win for the Czechs under new head coach Jiri Briza, who was making his World Championship debut at the helm.

Following the game, Czech team captain Zdenek Safranek insisted on getting his team back to the Winter Paralympic Games next year after finishing fifth at Vancouver 2010.

“It is our goal to finish in the top five in Goyang and qualify for Sochi, and if we get to the bronze or gold-medal game here that will be an extra bonus,” he said.

Russia, meanwhile, surprised the home team, as Dmitry Lisov scored in the first period to give the Russians an early 1-0 lead that they would keep for the rest of the day. Evgeny Petrov, who assisted on the first score, then found the net in the third period off a pass from Lisov to pad their lead.

Young-Sung Kim scored on an assist from Seung-Hwan Jung for Korea with just under two minutes left in the game, but it proved to be too little, too late.

Despite that, the Russian players were more than impressed with Korea’s offense, which outshot them 25-12.

“Korea are a very high-level team that’s become very strong and have played very well together lately,” Russia’s Konstantin Shikhov said. “They showed that they’re just as fast as anyone out there.

“But our goal is to win and only to win here, and we’re ready to win from both the physical and emotional point of view.”

Greg Westlake and Brad Bowden, both on the IPC’s Ones to Watch list for this season, powered together to help Canada cruise against Italy, 5-0. Westlake notched a pair of scores – both assisted by Bowden – while Bowden had a score of his own on a pass from Westlake.

Adam Dixon also notched two goals for the Canadians on the night, one assisted by Bowden, and Corbin Watson recorded the shutout for the winning team in the net.

Gianluigi Rosa led the Italian effort with four shots on goal, and Greg Leperdi had three attempts at the net.

Defending Paralympic and world champions USA came out firing on all cylinders earlier in the day, easily beating Sweden 7-0.

Declan Farmer and Taylor Chace starred for the Americans, scoring two goals apiece, as the winning team outshot their opponents on the ice 28-8.

Paul Schaus, Kevin McKee and Nikko Landeros recorded the other scores for the USA, with Steve Cash and Jen Lee splitting the shutout in the net and combining for eight saves.

Aron Anderson and Per Kasperi led the Swedish effort with three and two shots on goal, respectively.

Group play will continue on Sunday (14 April), as the Czech Republic and Sweden will face off at 9:15 local time, followed by USA against Norway at 12:30. Then, Canada will play Russia at 15:45 and Italy will challenge Korea in the evening game at 19:00.

The top five finishers from the Championships will automatically qualify for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

All games are being streamed live on the IPC's YouTube channel, www.YouTube.com/ParalympicSportTV.

For more information on the Championships, please visit the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships A-Pool website www.icesledgehockeyworlds.org.

You can also follow the action on Twitter @IPCISH and on the ice sledge hockey Facebook page www.Facebook.com/IceSledgeHockey.