UFA – If players have trouble gearing up for the bronze-medal game, imagine how difficult it is to get mentally focused for a game to decide 5th and 6th places.

Such was the task facing the Czechs and Swiss today, and the former proved more resilient, winning 4-3 to earn the superior ranking.

The Czechs got goals from four different players while Tomas Hyka had a goal and two assists.

Luca Boltshauser started in goal for the Swiss, and Sven Andrighetto got two of the Swiss goals.

Like all other games the Swiss have played, this was close and could have gone in their favour. They took a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Lukas Sieber scored short-handed at 4:30.

The lead lasted until early in the middle period when Dmitrij Jaskin scored at 1:42 with Tanner Richard in the penalty box for tripping. The rest of the period was marred by a lengthy series of minor penalties. Of the ten minors, the Czechs incurred six, but it was Hyka who scored the go-ahead goal later for the Czechs.

Andrighetto got his first of the night at 18:39 to make it a 2-2 game, but the Czechs went ahead for good just 14 seconds later when Martin Frk beat Boltshauser with a shot.

Tomas Hertl made it a two-goal lead midway through the final period, and Andrighetto scored with just 62 seconds remaining in a 6-on-4 situation created by a penalty and Boltshauser on the bench. They couldn’t tie it in the final minute, and the Swiss lost in regulation for the first time all tournament.

Shots on goal favoured the Czechs 37-23.

ANDREW PODNIEKS