VIENNA, 3 May 2005 — Jaromir Jagr, Vaclav Prospal and Frantisek Kaberle scored power play goals to lead the Czech Republic to a 3-1 win over Switzerland in their preliminary round opener at the world championship on Sunday.
In Innsbruck, the United States welcomed Slovenia back to the elite competition with a 7-0 pasting while Sweden needed a third period goal by Daniel Alfredsson to edge past Ukraine 3-2.
In Vienna, Kazakhstan scored their first-ever preliminary round victory at the tournament, shocking Germany 2-1.
The Czechs, considered a strong favorite to challenge Canada for the title, opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Prospal and Jagr.
Severin Blindenbacher brought the Swiss close at 12:42 of the first period with a power play goal, as the two teams battled the ice in Vienna’s Stadhalle.
Warm weather conditions have helped wreak havoc with the ice, and both coaches noted the less than ideal conditions.
“Jiri Slegr took a shot off the skate and it broke his skate blade. He couldn’t skate back, but he made a great effort to swim back,” quipped Czech coach Vladimir Ruzicka.
Nashville Predators goalie Tomas Vokoun closed the door the rest of the way, making several key saves even though the Czechs dominated play, out-shooting their opponents 41-23.
The Czechs got an insurance marker with just under six minutes gone in the third after American referee Rick Looker called a questionable interference penalty on Mathias Seger.
Frantisek Kaberle wasted no time in making the Swiss pay, blasting home a slapshot from the blueline that Swiss netminder Martin Gerber could not see as it made its way through a maze of players in front of the net.
“From where I was, it didn’t seem like a penalty but I respect the referee’s decision. The call kind of broke our necks though. We were down only one goal, and for five or six minutes before that had the momentum,” said Swiss coach Ralph Kruger.
The Americans last played Slovenia in the relegation round of 2003 in a battle to stay in the top group. The Slovenians lost and ended up back in the qualifying group.
Boston Bruin winger Mike Knuble got the US out to a quick start, scoring 31 seconds into the game, and the rout was on.
Adam Hall and Mark Parrish put the US up 3-0 after the first period, and then Knuble and Jeff Halpern stretched the lead to 5-0 after 40 minutes of play. Yan Stastny and Brian Gionta rounded out the scoring in the final frame.
Sweden, considered a medal favorite coming into the tournament, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Kenny Johnsson and Magnus Kahnberg.
But Ukraine shocked the crowd with two goals six minutes apart in the second period by Sergei Klymentyev and Bogdan Savenko.
But Alfredsson scored with just under 10 minutes to save his team from an embarrassing loss.
Kazakhstan came into the tournament hoping to avoid relegation, and their win against Germany should go a long way to ensuring that in the round robin preliminary round.
Dmitri Upper and Yevgeniy Koreshkov staked the Kazakhs to a 2-0 lead, and the team then hung on.
Germany got one back just before the end of the second period by Tomas Martinec, but they could not find the equalizer in the final frame.
