🇨🇿 Czechia 2-1 Finland 🇫🇮
World Junior Championship Gold Medal Game
Luzhniki Small Sports Arena, Moscow 🇷🇺
Friday, 05 January 2001

The Czech Republic maintained its stranglehold on international hockey supremacy yesterday and, in case anyone is wondering, yes the Czechs do think they are better than everyone else.

With a World Junior Championship Gold medal hanging around his neck, defenceman Rostislav Klesla said Canadians can have all the guts they want, the Czechs will take the glory because they are more intelligent hockey players.

Take that, Don Cherry.

“I think we win because we’re smart. Pretty much all the Czech people are smart and I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Klesla, who plays for the Brampton Battalion.

“Canadians have a great work ethic and they have great players, but they’re not as smart as we are so we can always do those little things to be smarter and win the battles. They may be stronger, but we’re smarter.”

Czech coach Jaroslav Holík, the father of New Jersey Devils centre Bobby Holík, agreed with Klesla that what a team has between its ears is the most important ingredient.

“We just play with our heads,” Holik said. “We’ll never be good skaters like Finland or talented as Swedes or physical as Canadians, but we play smart hockey. Hockey, you must always play with the head.”

Arrogant? A little, but then again when you are the most dominant hockey playing country in the world, you can afford to walk with something of a swagger.

The Czechs continued their world domination with a 2-1 win over Finland in the Gold medal game, giving them a perfect 7-0-0 record in the tournament and making them the first team to run the table since Canada posted a 6-0-0 record in 1996.

The World Junior title was the second consecutive one for the Czechs and goes nicely with the two successive world senior championships they currently have and the Olympic Gold medal they picked up in 1998 at Nagano, Japan.

Klesla opened the scoring for the Czechs in the first period when his bouncer from the blue line found its way past Finnish goalie Ari Ahonen.

Colorado Avalanche prospect Vaclav Nedorost put them up 2-0 early in the second before Jani Rita, who led the tournament with eight goals, scored near the midway mark.

The Czech domination of the tournament was complete when the organizers announced the best players at each position. Tomáš Duba was named best goalie, Klesla picked up top defenceman honours and Pavel Brendl was top forward.

The Czechs won the tournament with only three returnees from last year’s Gold medal team.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
04:54 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Brendl, tripping
12:25 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Tikkanen, hooking
13:19 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Klesla (Ustrnul, Brendl)
19:10 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Ustrnul, holding

2nd Period
22:54 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Nedorost (Ustrnul)
24:13 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Sivek, holding
29:13 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Erat, high sticking
31:48 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Hytönen, interference
38:51 – 🇫🇮 GOAL – Rita (Ahonen)

3rd Period
41:10 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Výtisk, tripping
44:12 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Hytönen, holding

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇿 Duba (24-25)
L: 🇫🇮 Ahonen (16-18)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇿 6+6+6 = 18
🇫🇮 8+11+6 = 25

ROSTERS
🇨🇿 Goaltenders: Lukáš Čučela, Tomáš Duba. Defence: Jakub Čutta, Rostislav Klesla, David Nosek, David Pojkar, Libor Ustrnul, Jan Výtisk. Forwards: Zdeněk Blatný, Pavel Brendl, Martin Erat, Lukáš Havel, Patrik Moskal, Václav Nedorost, Tomáš Plekanec, Michal Sivek, Radim Vrbata.
🇫🇮 Goaltenders: Ari Ahonen, Kari Lehtonen. Defence: Toni Koivisto, Lasse Kukkonen, Olli Malmivaara, Tuukka Mäntylä, Tero Määttä, Janne Niskala, Markku Paukkunen, Harri Tikkanen. Forwards: Juha-Pekka Hytönen, Ville Hämäläinen, Mikko Koivu, Jouni Kulonen, Miro Laitinen, Toni Mustonen, Tuomas Pihlman, Jani Rita, Tuomo Ruutu, Teemu Sainomaa, Tony Salmelainen, Sami Venäläinen.

Article Credit: The Toronto Star
Photo Credit: iDNES – IIHF – HHOF – IOC