Ice hockey-Czechs hold off U.S. to take top spot in Group B

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MYTISHCHI, Russia, Jaroslav Bednar scored with 68 seconds remaining to end a furious U.S. fight-back and give the Czech Republic a 4-3 win and top spot in Group Bat the ice hockey world championship on Tuesday.

World champions in 2005 and silver medallists last year in Riga, the Czechs appear poised to make another run for the gold after wrapping up preliminary round play with a victory over a young U.S. team that also entered the contest unbeaten.

"We should defend a 3-1 lead. That didn't happen but I'm happy we scored the deciding goal," Czech coach Alois Hadamczik told reporters. "We saw a very good hockey game tonight."

After going up 3-1 in the final period, the Czechs looked headed for a more comfortable win until the Americans struck two late goals from Carolina Hurricanes team mates Chad LaRose and Andrew Hutchinson to level the score at 3-3.

But Bednar sent the partisan Czech crowd home happy when he took a feed from Jan Marek in front of the U.S. net and slapped the puck past netminder John Grahame for the game winner.

The Czechs, bidding to reach the gold medal final for the third year is succession, scored the only goal of a fast paced opening period when Petr Caslava tapped in a goalmouth feed from David Vyborny.

The U.S. answered with a powerplay tally of their own from Nashville Predators' Ryan Suter early in the second but the 1998 Olympic champions regained the lead before the end of the frame when Zbynek Irgl blasted a shot from the right boards past Grahame.

The Czechs increased their lead to 3-1 midway through an ill-tempered final period after the U.S. turned the puck over deep in their own zone and Boston Bruins' Petr Tenkrat slammed home a goalmouth pass from Per Cajanek.

But the Americans continued to fight back, LaRose scoring a short-handed goal followed by a powerplay tally from Hutchinson to set up a nail-biting finish.

"I think as the game went on we got stronger," said U.S. coach Mike Sullivan. "I was proud of our players the way we came back from a two-goal deficit.

"To give a goal late like that is disappointing but I think our team can take a lot away from tonight. I was really happy with the way our team competed, the never-say-die attitude."

Keywords: ICE HOCKEY WORLD/CZECH

[Reuters/Finance.cz]