With her shot from the break, she reduced the score to 1:4, but there was no miraculous turnaround against the overseas favorite. Just like a year ago, the opponent dominated in the semi-finals. Now especially thanks to the four used power-ups out of five. And at the same time, the national team did not concede even once in the previous five matches at the tournament in a weakened state!
“Throughout the tournament, we did very well with the underdogs. But suddenly nothing was working out for us. We didn’t block shots, everything flew around us, the pucks didn’t bounce back to us,” Šapovalivová was looking for reasons.
Unlike the match in the group, in which the Czechs led for a while 2:1, this time they did not put up such resistance and were a worthy opponent only in the first period. “It was already a better match. In the elimination fights, everyone wants to show the most. The American women played excellently. But they are one of the best in the world, it’s no surprise,” coach Carla MacLeodová assessed for hokej.cz.
However, she did not seem disappointed at all after the crushing defeat. “After all, we are playing in the elite group for the first time, and we are in the semifinals again! We are fighting for a medal, I couldn’t be more excited! We’re not done yet,” she smiled. “This will teach us a lot. I’ve been saying this the whole tournament. We played the semifinals for the second time in our lives. And this experience will move us. It’s part of the process. We’ll be even hungrier,” continued the Canadian coach.
The important defender Dominika Lásková dropped out of the lineup during the match. “But it will be fine,” believes MacLeod. Otherwise, she did not change the composition of the formations. In the first attack, the 16-year-old Šapovalivová remained next to Mrázová and Mlýnková. meant the sister of hockey player Matyáš Šapovaliv who was three years older.
Photo: Nathan Denette, CTK/AP
Sixteen-year-old Czech ice hockey player Adéla Šapovalivová in the quarter-final match against Finland.
The U20 World Championship silver medalist is currently playing in the junior OHL with his playoff team, the Saginaw Spirit, where he is the second most productive player. He collects almost two points per game (7+8 in eight games). “Hopefully he will go as far as possible and do well. It’s a shame he can’t be here, I’d really like to see him. But we still write to each other,” pointed out Šapovalivová.
Now, above all, he wants to collect the rest of his strength for Sunday’s bronze medal match with Switzerland, which starts at 9:00 p.m. Czech time. “We still have a chance for a medal, so we will put the defeat behind us. Losing is a sport. We just want the bronze,” commanded the attacker.
Coach MacLeod also believes that the semi-final demolition will not decide her charge. “A result is a result. Let’s forget about him. We are moving forward, now we mainly need to rest,” the coach realized.
