In a 6-1 Czech romp over Hungary, David Pastrnak (#88, left) scores the opening goal at Herning's Jyske Bank Boxen in Group B action on Thursday night.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
In the first meeting between the Czechs and Hungarians in modern IIHF history, the spoils unsurprisingly fell to the defending world champions. Unbeaten Czechia marched to a 6-1 win in Herning on Thursday at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
Superstar David Pastrnak set the pace with two goals and an assist, and now leads the tournament with nine points (4+5=9). Lukas Sedlak had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Flek, Petr Kodytek, and Ondrej Beranek also scored for Czechia. Captain Roman Cervenka and Daniel Vozenilek chipped in two assists apiece.
Puck control, patience, and opportunism were the order of the day for the champs.
Pastrnak told reporters he sees room for improvement: "We haven’t played one good first period in the tournament yet. Against teams like Hungary, you want to get the lead and control the game. We were lucky enough to get it. But they had a pushback in the second period. I thought they played really well in the second. We stopped playing. We knew we had to get back to our game in the third. I think in the third period we controlled the game."
Andras Mihalik replied for Hungary. The Hungarians have less than 24 hours before their next game, a crucial showdown against Denmark in the fight to stay in the top division. Hungary has one win so far, a 4-2 decision over Kazakhstan.
"We’re going to go home, try to rest as much as much as we can, since we’re playing at 16:20. Rest is a key now," said Hungarian assistant captain Istvan Terbocs. "That’s the first focus. Then we’ll review what we know about Denmark and get ready for the game tomorrow. It’s a huge chance for us to help ourselves stay up in the top division. We’re going to focus on that now, resting and focusing on Denmark. We want to beat them so badly."
Czech goalie Daniel Vladar posted 11 saves for his second straight win. The Calgary Flames veteran also appeared between the pipes in the 7-2 thrashing of host Denmark.
The Czechs outshot Hungary 32-12.
The Hungarians actually looked poised to escape the first period with a scoreless draw despite failing to register a shot on goal. They survived two power plays with nothing worse than Martin Necas ringing a shot off the post.
However, a neutral-zone turnover proved easy prey for the vaunted Czech counterattack. Sedlak pounced on it, sped into the Hungarian end, and fed Cervenka, who slipped it cross-crease to Pastrnak for the opening tally at 17:30.
Sedlak discussed playing with Pastrnak: "I feel much more comfortable now. I understand him much better now, what he needs, where he is on the ice. The chemistry is building up quite nicely. We’ve played four games together, so that’s important to get used to each other. I think four games is enough."
With 37 seconds left in the period, Flek stole the puck amid more neutral-zone faffing about and raced in alone to beat Hungarian netminder Adam Vay for a 2-0 lead.
Hungary continued to battle gamely. Nearing the midpoint, the Magyars finally exerted some pressure with Cervenka off for interference, but couldn’t penetrate Vladar’s net.
As time wore on, the superior puck movement and conditioning of the Czechs took its toll. Kodytek scored on a glove-side laser on the power play at 9:43.
The always-boisterous Hungarian fans sang their lungs out when Mihalik spoiled Vladar's shutout at 15:27. The 22-year-old DEAC forward came late on the rush, accepted a pass from Peter Vincze, and went to the high slot to whip one high to the stick side.
The Czechs showed a little annoyance late in the middle frame, as Sedlak and Ferenc Laskawy came together in front of the Hungarian net and went off jawing at each other. But the best was yet to come.
The third period saw Pastrnak scoring his second goal of the night at 3:42 on a breakaway, taking advantage of a beautiful stretch pass from Krejcik.
Terbocs talked about facing the Boston Bruins all-star: "How hard [is he to contain]? When he shoots the puck at your knee, I think it’s even harder! You know, on one side it’s a privilege to play against these guys. A couple of months ago, I was watching Pastrnak on Prime. Now I’m playing against him. But other than that, you can’t overly respect them. We try to play our best hockey against them and not give them too many chances, too much time. We try to play our best game against every opponent we face at this tournament. That’s our goal."
Beranek, on the power play, and Sedlak added goals 1:19 apart to put Czechia up 6-1 before the midway mark of the third. Now the champs were on cruise control till the ned.
Next up for the Czechs is Kazakhstan on Saturday. The Kazakhs are a desperate bunch, having lost three straight games since opening with a 2-1 win over Norway.
"I think it’ll be a little different," Sedlak said of the upcoming matchup. "You never know here if they’re going to come hard or kind of wait. We’ll see. We try to focus on our game and get better each game. We want to build our reads and the system we want to play. We don’t really focus on the opponents."
Prior to World War II, Czechoslovakia faced Hungary on four occasions at the Ice Hockey World Championships, winning 4-1 in 1931 and 1-0 (twice) in 1934. The nations played to a 0-0 tie in 1937.
Superstar David Pastrnak set the pace with two goals and an assist, and now leads the tournament with nine points (4+5=9). Lukas Sedlak had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Flek, Petr Kodytek, and Ondrej Beranek also scored for Czechia. Captain Roman Cervenka and Daniel Vozenilek chipped in two assists apiece.
Puck control, patience, and opportunism were the order of the day for the champs.
Pastrnak told reporters he sees room for improvement: "We haven’t played one good first period in the tournament yet. Against teams like Hungary, you want to get the lead and control the game. We were lucky enough to get it. But they had a pushback in the second period. I thought they played really well in the second. We stopped playing. We knew we had to get back to our game in the third. I think in the third period we controlled the game."
Andras Mihalik replied for Hungary. The Hungarians have less than 24 hours before their next game, a crucial showdown against Denmark in the fight to stay in the top division. Hungary has one win so far, a 4-2 decision over Kazakhstan.
"We’re going to go home, try to rest as much as much as we can, since we’re playing at 16:20. Rest is a key now," said Hungarian assistant captain Istvan Terbocs. "That’s the first focus. Then we’ll review what we know about Denmark and get ready for the game tomorrow. It’s a huge chance for us to help ourselves stay up in the top division. We’re going to focus on that now, resting and focusing on Denmark. We want to beat them so badly."
Czech goalie Daniel Vladar posted 11 saves for his second straight win. The Calgary Flames veteran also appeared between the pipes in the 7-2 thrashing of host Denmark.
The Czechs outshot Hungary 32-12.
The Hungarians actually looked poised to escape the first period with a scoreless draw despite failing to register a shot on goal. They survived two power plays with nothing worse than Martin Necas ringing a shot off the post.
However, a neutral-zone turnover proved easy prey for the vaunted Czech counterattack. Sedlak pounced on it, sped into the Hungarian end, and fed Cervenka, who slipped it cross-crease to Pastrnak for the opening tally at 17:30.
Sedlak discussed playing with Pastrnak: "I feel much more comfortable now. I understand him much better now, what he needs, where he is on the ice. The chemistry is building up quite nicely. We’ve played four games together, so that’s important to get used to each other. I think four games is enough."
With 37 seconds left in the period, Flek stole the puck amid more neutral-zone faffing about and raced in alone to beat Hungarian netminder Adam Vay for a 2-0 lead.
Hungary continued to battle gamely. Nearing the midpoint, the Magyars finally exerted some pressure with Cervenka off for interference, but couldn’t penetrate Vladar’s net.
As time wore on, the superior puck movement and conditioning of the Czechs took its toll. Kodytek scored on a glove-side laser on the power play at 9:43.
The always-boisterous Hungarian fans sang their lungs out when Mihalik spoiled Vladar's shutout at 15:27. The 22-year-old DEAC forward came late on the rush, accepted a pass from Peter Vincze, and went to the high slot to whip one high to the stick side.
The Czechs showed a little annoyance late in the middle frame, as Sedlak and Ferenc Laskawy came together in front of the Hungarian net and went off jawing at each other. But the best was yet to come.
The third period saw Pastrnak scoring his second goal of the night at 3:42 on a breakaway, taking advantage of a beautiful stretch pass from Krejcik.
Terbocs talked about facing the Boston Bruins all-star: "How hard [is he to contain]? When he shoots the puck at your knee, I think it’s even harder! You know, on one side it’s a privilege to play against these guys. A couple of months ago, I was watching Pastrnak on Prime. Now I’m playing against him. But other than that, you can’t overly respect them. We try to play our best hockey against them and not give them too many chances, too much time. We try to play our best game against every opponent we face at this tournament. That’s our goal."
Beranek, on the power play, and Sedlak added goals 1:19 apart to put Czechia up 6-1 before the midway mark of the third. Now the champs were on cruise control till the ned.
Next up for the Czechs is Kazakhstan on Saturday. The Kazakhs are a desperate bunch, having lost three straight games since opening with a 2-1 win over Norway.
"I think it’ll be a little different," Sedlak said of the upcoming matchup. "You never know here if they’re going to come hard or kind of wait. We’ll see. We try to focus on our game and get better each game. We want to build our reads and the system we want to play. We don’t really focus on the opponents."
Prior to World War II, Czechoslovakia faced Hungary on four occasions at the Ice Hockey World Championships, winning 4-1 in 1931 and 1-0 (twice) in 1934. The nations played to a 0-0 tie in 1937.
Czechia vs Hungary - 2025 IIHF WM
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