Czech U17s will play for bronze at European Youth Olympics

At the 2011 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Liberec, the Czech U17 national hockey team has split the two games in its three-team group to finish second, and will play for the bronze medal on Thursday.

Matěj Psota (left) tries to get away from Slovak defenceman Juraj
Kuricko in EYOWF action on Tuesday. Photo: eyowf2011.cz.

In the team's first game, it beat Slovakia 4-2 on Tuesday. They were led by 2 goals and an assist from Matěj Psota, who has 39 points in 32 games this season for the Liberec starší dorost (U18--the North American equivalent would be Midget) team. They also got a goal and an assist from Patrik Machač, who has 41 points in 27 games for Kladno starší dorost. On Wednesday, Finland beat the Czech Republic 4-1 to win the group, knocking the Czechs into second. Marek Langhammer was in goal for each game, stopping 28 shots against Slovakia and 22 against Finland. Langhammer has split time this season between Pardubice's starší dorost and junior teams, and has also played a couple of games with HC Chrudim of the First League.

On Thursday, Slovakia and Latvia will play for fifth place at 15:00 Central European Time (UTC +1), followed by the Czech Republic against Switzerland for the bronze medal at 19:00.

On Friday, Finland will take on Russia for the gold medal, beginning at 12:00.