Eurolanche

Avs on WC (1.): Landy without points

On the first day only two players from Colorado Avalanche had their debuts. Robust defender Jan Hejda, played in second defensive pair along with Jakub Nakladal against Belarus. He spent on ice 15:03 minutes and helped Czech national team defend their goal. His consistent performance also accomplished first shutout on World Championships ever for Czech goalie Alexander Salak. Czech team won their game 2-0, and it was quite obvious that some players spent hours on flights from USA and Canada and are still not 100% in game shape. Jakub Voracek, the best Czech scoring forward in last NHL season revealed in after game´s interview, that he hasn´t slept at all since he is in Europe. It was however Voracek who scored the winning goal. He scored his first goal on tournament in power play. The second goal was scored also in power play and also by NHL player – Radim Vrbata.

Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog played his first game on WC 2013 as well, and was part of the 3rd line in Tre Kronor team. He spent 08:53 minutes on ice and made one shoot on goal. On his score sheet he added also 2 minutes penalty. His face off success rate was 50% as he won 1 and also lost 1. Landeskog was the extra attacker when Sweds pulled their goalie and was blocking Gerber´s (Swiss goalie) view and fighting in the goalie area, but his team-mates failed to score an equalizer. Sweden lost their first game and needs to win tomorrow´s game against Czech Republic to keep up with other teams within the group.

One additional info : Paul Stastny has been voted as captain for the USA national team. Their first game will be played tomorrow at 11:15 CET against Austria.

Day 1 results:

Slovakia – France 6:2

Czech Republic – Belarus 2:0

Finland – Germany 4-3 OT

Sweden – Switzerland 2:3