France’s head coach Yorick Treille has to swallow a bitter pill
Keystone
France is the first team to be relegated from the Ice Hockey World Championship after a 3:1 defeat against Slovenia. The Czech Republic also beat Germany.
Since returning to the top division in 2007, the French have remained in it with the exception of 2019. Now, after being promoted again in 2021, they have to return to the second-highest division, much to the chagrin of the organizers of next year’s World Championship in Switzerland. The French team should have played there in Fribourg and attracted some fans.
The team of coach Yorick Treille, who once played for Genève-Servette, were doomed by a weak first period against Slovenia, who also had just one point before the game. Zan Jezovsek gave the Eastern Europeans the lead in Stockholm in the 10th minute in the powerplay, Nik Simsic increased the lead to 2:0 in the 17th minute. In between, Slovenia’s Jan Drozg failed to score with a penalty. The Equipe Tricolore were unable to do more than score the equalizer through Tim Bozon (59′), who transferred from Lausanne to Servette. With 15 seconds remaining, Matic Torok made everything clear with a shot into the empty net.
Czech Republic confident
In Group B in Herning, defending champions the Czech Republic also won their sixth game of the tournament with a 5-0 win over Germany and are now ahead of Switzerland again. Jakub Flex scored twice for the Eastern Europeans. NHL star David Pastrnak scored the 1:0 (6th) on the power play and set up Lukas Sedlak’s 2:0 (27th). The 39-year-old Roman Cervenka recorded two assists. Pastrnak and Cervenka lead the scoring charts with five goals and seven assists each.
The victory for the Czechs was a good one, but too high. The Germans scored twice after the 0:1 through Dominik Kahun (20th) and Tim Stützle (25th). Coach Harold Kreis’s team now face a final game on Tuesday evening against the hosts Denmark, who are level on points, for a place in the quarter-finals.