Ice Hockey World Championship

Switzerland & Germany start the World Championship with victories

Switzerland beat Norway 5:2 in Prague ...(Bild: AFP)

Sweden, Switzerland and Germany have started the Ice Hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic with more or less convincing victories! 

In Austria Group A, Switzerland beat Norway 5:2 in Prague. Runners-up Germany beat Slovakia 6:4 in the opening game of Group B in Ostrava, and later Sweden defeated the USA 5:2 in the same venue.

Hosts Czech Republic struggle
Hosts the Czech Republic had an extremely difficult time, only beating Finland in a penalty shoot-out. In Prague, the home team won a late and narrow 1:0 victory. Ondrej Kase and captain Roman Cervenka scored in the penalty shoot-out. In the second period, the Czechs were denied a goal by Ondrej Palat after a challenge.

In the duel between Group B favorites Sweden and the USA, the Scandinavians showed a higher passing quality and were more efficient in finishing. With Joel Eriksson Ek (9th, 60th/EN), youngster Lucas Raymond (24th), Marcus Johansson (37th) and Victor Hedman (60th/SH+EN) four NHL-legionnaires scored for the "Tre Kronor"-team. The USA will get the chance to do better against Germany on Saturday.

Five Swiss players get on the scoresheet
Shortly before the start of the tournament, the Swiss were joined by NHL star defenseman Roman Josi from the Nashville Predators. The 33-year-old, who played in the 2013 and 2018 World Championship silver medals, was an important stabilizer in defence as usual. His colleague Andres Ambühl played his 132nd World Championship match for the Swiss team, extending his own record. The 40-year-old, who is playing his 19th World Championship this year, provided the assist for Nino Niederreiter's final goal. Five Swiss players got on the scoresheet.

Thierry Bader, son of Austria's team boss Roger Bader, was not even in the 23-man squad. This makes it a little less likely that a father-son duel will take place on Sunday when Switzerland meets Austria.