Czechia Edges Germany For Another Shot At A Medal

Czechia's Daniela Pejsova broke a 0-0 tie late in the third period to lift Czechia to a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Germany in the IIHF World Championship quarterfinals.

UTICA, New York — Daniela Pejsova and captain Aneta Tejralova had been plotting from the start of the game, but it took two periods to execute their plan.

Pejsova scored late in the third period as Czechia defeated Germany, 1-0, to advance to the semifinals at the IIHF Women's World Championship.

The defender broke the scoreless tie at 12:54 of the third. Pejsova one-timed a pass along the blueline from Tejralova, putting it past German netminder Sandra Abstreiter and into the top, right corner.

"Me and Aneta, we were talking that we should make a D-to-D pass on the blue line," Pejsova said. "It didn't really go well during the game, but then in a turn, it was a great play from the corner, from (Michaela Pejzlova) then I just closed my eyes and shot it."

Klara Peslarova finished with 16 saves for the Czechs, who advance to their third straight semifinal. Czechia finished with bronze the past two years.

"I think I saw most of the shots. They didn't have a lot, but a lot from the slot," Peslarova said. "There was the time where they had puck movement, (but) there was the time when I had nothing to do. I needed to be focused and everything. I would say that Germany played really well."

Abstreiter finished with 23 saves in the loss.

Although the Germans recorded 16 shots, very few tested Peslarova. A handful came from the slot, but Germany never generated high-danger opportunities or close-range chances at rebounds. 

But they stifled Czechia's offense, limiting opportunities to the perimeter.

"The way our team moved everyone out of the way was good," Abstreiter said. "One of their big things this year was that they were shooting through screens and trying to tip puck. That was the big thing, to get them to the outside and I think we did a really good job with that."

The Germans finished 0-for-2 on the power play, including the final 2:55 after Czechia's Denisa Krizova received a major and game misconduct for checking from behind. Germany was unable to convert on the advantage, in addition to having an  extra attacker with Abstreiter pulled.

"It was a gutsy finish, too, with the penalty kills," Czechia coach Carla MacLeod said. "Germany has come out of the B-pool with a lot of confidence and they played great against us tonight."