Ducks' Dostal and Gudas battle Switzerland in a tight Olympic overtime loss. LaCombe remains scratched for US.
The preliminary round of the 2026 men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament wrapped up on Sunday with four games. Two members of the Anaheim Ducks organization were in action on Sunday: defenseman Radko Gudas and goaltender Lukas Dostal from Czechia as they matched up against Switzerland.
Jackson LaCombe’s US team was also in action, but for a third consecutive time, he was the blueline’s healthy scratch for their game against Germany.
Radko Gudas (Czechia vs. Switzerland)
Czechia: 3, Switzerland: 4 OT
In a game that, for all intents and purposes, was inconsequential to the playoff/quarterfinal outlook except from a seeding perspective, both teams played a tight-checking, detailed game from opening puck drop to the final buzzer.
Switzerland played with more pace, especially with possession, on the rush or cycle. In a tournament rendered mostly a dump-and-chase affair by a shortened neutral zone, the Swiss team built plays up ice from their end with clever slip-pass sequences and their defensemen active in the transition game.
Like in Czechia’s opening game against Canada, Ducks’ defenseman Radko Gudas was a step slow to react to Switzerland’s puck movement and quick decision-making. He attempted to provide a physical element to his Czech team, especially in the neutral zone, to cut down on outlets, but Switzerland consistently had supporting attackers to alleviate much of that pressure, rendering Gudas somewhat neutralized against the rush.
Gudas was as effective as ever in his end, winning wall battles, mostly clearing the net front for Dostal, and making efficient, simple decisions with the puck. He factored into Switzerland’s first goal of the game, when Czechia got caught in transition, as Gudas failed to close his gap up ice, and when the play went the other way, he retreated, initially crossing over off the wrong foot, which gave Roman Josi enough time to drive wide and feed the front of the net, with the pass going directly off Gudas’ skate and beating Dotal five-hole.
Gudas finished scoreless with one shot on goal in 16:20 TOI.
Lukas Dostal (Czechia vs. Switzerland)
Czechia: 3, Switzerland 4 OT
Dostal got his second start of the Olympics on Sunday in Czechia’s third game after losing to Canada in his debut on Thursday. For Czechia to win games like this one or any moving forward, Dostal needs to play not just good, but great. In this game, he was merely good.
As has become a staple of his game, he remained a calm presence when pucks were in tight to his crease, making himself as big as possible and physically quiet. He played several pucks in this game to alleviate Swiss pressure and deflected several more to the safety of the perimeter.
Czechia was allowing Swiss bodies to get to the net front, but they were mostly diligent to clear second-chance opportunities. Dostal allowed goals on a slot pass that deflected off his defender’s skate, a rebound that found its way to a Swiss stick after a power play point shot, a broken play in the mid-slot that deflected to a trailing Pius Suter, and an overtime 2v1 snipe from Dean Kukan. The only ones Dostal perhaps could have gotten pieces of were the third and fourth, and maybe could have had slightly better rebound control on the Swiss power play goal.
Dostal made the saves he had to and gave his squad a chance to come away with the win. He finished with 25 saves on the 29 shots he faced.