Team Czechia cemented a moment of national hockey history by winning the 2024 World Championship on home ice over Team Switzerland.

The IIHF men's World Championship is over, but the party has just begun in Czechia.

In front of their home fans in Prague, Czechia won gold at the Worlds for the first time since 2010 in a tightly contested 2-0 win over Switzerland. It is the first time Czechia has won the World Championship on home ice, with the former Czechoslovakia winning in Prague back in 1985.

This is Switzerland's first medal at the World Championship since 2018 when the Swiss lost to Sweden in the 2018 gold medal game. The Czechs won their second medal in three tournaments after getting bronze in 2022, their first medal since 2012. 

Both nations pulled off upset wins in the semifinal to get to the gold medal game, with Czechia beating Sweden 7-3 and Switzerland eliminating Canada 3-2 in the shootout. Czechia also upset the Americans with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory.

Switzerland and Czechia had their fair share of scoring chances in the first two periods of play, with the Czechs outshooting the Swiss 13-7 in the first period before splitting the second period 10 shots apiece.

The third period had another layer of intensity and suspense when Czechia's Ondrej Palat hit Switzerland's Andrea Glauser in the boards so hard that it cracked the glass. Play continued, but as fans tried to alert the officials to the broken glass, there was a six-minute delay following an icing call. Even during that time, the passionate fans inside Prague Arena kept chanting, dancing and clapping.

And with 10:47 to go in the third period, the crowd inside and outside the rink erupted.

Off an offensive zone faceoff, Czech winger and Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak stood in traffic in the slot before spotting an opening in the faceoff dot to the right of Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni. 

Defenseman Tomas Kundratek spotted Pastrnak getting open and fed him an opportunity he capitalized on, unleashing a one-timed slapshot past Genoni.

Switzerland piled on the pressure late in the third period, but Czechia goaltender Lukas Dostal continued his strong form all tournament long, being named the top goaltender of the tournament. One of his stops came as the puck was headed toward the left of the net before Sven Andrighetto tried to wrap the puck around the right of Dostal. The netminder sprung out his right pad to make a toe save.

The Swiss kept on getting chance after chance, but with less than 20 seconds remaining, David Kampf got another break for Czechia. With the Swiss net empty, the puck crawling down the ice, Kampf charged down the rink and redirected the puck into the net.

Switzerland had a chance to win their first gold medal in World Championship history, but that will have to wait for another year. That said, there is a lot for the Swiss to be proud of. Forward Kevin Fiala was named the top forward and MVP of the World Championship, while Roman Josi was the tournament's top defender.

May 26, 2024, will be a night Czech hockey fans won't forget.

For more coverage of the medal round at the World Championship and more international hockey news, visit THN.com/International.

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