LILLEHAMMER – The Czech women’s team won its second game against Switzerland in two days at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games. After beating the Swiss 2-1 in shootout the Czechs will play Sweden for gold on Sunday.

The Czechs won by the same score like yesterday but this time they needed a shootout despite outshooting the Swiss 29-10.

“It’s the best feeling ever,” Magdalena Erbenova said about scoring the game-winning goal. “I have never scored in a shootout before.”

The Czechs came out strong and didn’t allow the Swiss many chances in the first period. Karolina Hornicka opened the scoring at 4:26 just eight seconds after a Swiss player had taken a penalty.

“The Swiss team played really well and fought back. They were attacking all the time. It was hard to play against them,” Czech head coach Rudolf Valla said about the game in which his team played with just two-and-a-half lines after missing three players.

The game didn’t continue well for the Swiss as they took four consecutive penalties. But when everything seemed to go against the Swiss, they eventually also got a power play and Rahel Enzler beat Czech goalie Kristyna Blahova with a low shot with 75 seconds left in the second period.

“It was a tight game. They capitalized better on their chances. We had enough chances too but didn’t make use of them,” Enzler said.

“We shot for making pressure from the beginning but it was them who played up-tempo hockey. In the end we fought back on a power play goal and in the shootout anything can happen.”

The third period was scoreless and a shootout had to decide the winner. Sydney Berta started for Switzerland but Blahova made the save while Erbenova scored for the Czechs. In the second round Blahova had another save against Noemi Rhyner. Natalie Mlynkova made everything clear with her shot that hit the goalie but then went in for the 2-0 goal in the shootout and the 2-1 win in the semi-finals.

“It was an advantage for us to have won yesterday, it was a good kick-starter,” Erbenova said. “Every game is different and each team could have won. The Swiss were attacking and skating a lot but we also did our job well.”

The Czechs will play for gold against Sweden on Sunday at 11:00. The game will be streamed live. Switzerland and Slovakia will play the bronze medal game on Saturday at 17:00.

MARTIN MERK