Ice Hockey World Championship kick-off: Switzerland twice squanders a lead against the Czech Republic – and loses in overtime

(sda) The Swiss national ice hockey team lost a World Championship opening match for the first time in nine years. In Herning, Denmark, the Czech Republic won revenge for last year's final 5:4 after overtime.

The World Cup couldn't have started better. After just 94 seconds, ZSC defender Christian Marti scored the lead with a brilliant shot, and in the 18th minute, Damien Riat doubled the lead to 2-0 with a rebound. Nevertheless, it was the Czechs who celebrated in the end. In extra time, with only three outfield players each, stars David Pastrnak and Roman Cervenka combined to score the winning goal.

In the final third, the Swiss had turned a 2-3 deficit around after exactly 49 minutes thanks to goals from World Cup debutant Sandro Schmid in the power play and the outstanding Sven Andrighetto.

In between, the physically strong Czechs dominated for long stretches. The turnaround came from two penalties at the end of the first period, first against Timo Meier, and shortly thereafter against Michael Fora. With a two-man advantage, the world champions didn't take long to respond, and before the first intermission, Matej Stransky cut the deficit after perfect assists from Roman Cervenka and David Pastrnak. Following Stransky, the second Czech striker from Davos, Filip Zadina, also equalized in the 27th minute.

During this phase, the Swiss threatened to fall apart. For several minutes, they were barely able to get out of their own zone and, accordingly, were unable to switch as desired, especially since the walk to their own bench is always long in the middle period. This prolonged ice period ended in the 36th minute with Filip Pyrochta's goal to make it 2-3.

During the second break, however, national coach Patrick Fischer clearly found the right words. His men emerged from the locker room transformed, but ultimately failed to reward themselves with victory. In the end, in front of a good 10,000 fairly evenly distributed fans, both teams underscored their ambitions for another medal.

Since 2016, Fischer's first year in charge, Switzerland had never lost a World Cup opening match. It was also the last time they missed the quarterfinals. However, that's unlikely to happen this time. The Swiss will play their second of seven group matches on Saturday evening against hosts Denmark.