Buffalo 2025: Czechia wins bronze in overtime over China

“Amazing.”

One would be forgiven if thinking these were the words of every hockey fan exiting the LECOM Harborcenter, but in this instance, it was the one-word answer from Team Czechia captain Radek Zelinka, who was describing the feeling of having scored the overtime winning goal. 

Team Czechia beat China 2-1 in Buffalo to take their third consecutive bronze medal at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships.

His coach, Jakub Novotny, would prove more lavish in his praise for the man with the “C” on his chest: “Radek played very consistently the whole tournament, the whole season [even]. We know what we can expect from him. He’s a good leader [and] he showed it on the ice. He didn’t panic when he was alone. He just put the puck in the net with a calm hand.”

That the veteran defenseman would show such poise in such a competitive game speaks volume of the ice he has in his veins, as the game was not lacking in intensity. 

“It was a battle,” said Novotny, before adding: “It wasn’t a game, it was more like a battle against Team China, they put us under a lot of pressure, and we played very well. I’m proud that we overcame that to get to the win. We knew that China would have the speed, [that] they would be much faster than us. We could see that in their attacks, they turnover the game very fast.”

Enter Patrik Sedlacek (14 saves), the Czech goaltender, whose acrobatics between the pipes had an answer to everything Team China fired at him. Even the one puck that snuck pass him needed a video review by the official to make sure it did – Jin Tao Tian scored his seventh goal at Buffalo 2025 to cancel Czechia’s early lead from Vaclav Hecko.

🥉Czechia 🇨🇿

📸: Micheline Veluvolu / USA Hockey#ParaIceHockey #Buffalo2025 pic.twitter.com/leJnRbu3pS

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) May 31, 2025

The masked man’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed by his coach. Novotny explained: 

“Patrik played very well the whole tournament. I told him that I’m proud of how he played, of how he handled the pressure because it was his first tournament for him as the number one goalie. To play every game with consistency, I’m very happy that he battled, that he made it happen for us today because he had a couple saves. He played very well the whole tournament.”

In looking at the road ahead, Team Czechia forward and player-of-the-game Vaclav Hecko summarised: “[It was a] tough game but [I’m] happy that we succeeded. Every year, it’s getting harder and harder to stay in the bronze medal game, so next year, we will have to prepare a little bit more.”

But for now, the final words belong to his team captain, who was both gracious and proud in stating: “We must give China a lot of credit for how they battled; it was a very tough game. But I am proud of the players and how they handled it. We have the bronze hat trick!”

Complete team stats and all results from Buffalo 2025 can be found here.