The Czech Republic solidified its grip on second place in Group B with a 5-3  
  victory over Belarus on Wednesday. Radek Vesely scored the third-period  
  winner.  
    
  On the strength of a three-goal third period, the Czechs won their second  
  consecutive game and have earned at least a point in all three of their  
  outings so far. Their New Year's Eve group finale is against host Finland.  
    
  We're looking forward to a great atmosphere, Czech forward Michael Spacek  
  said  
  of facing the Finns. "We'll get some rest now and hopefully we'll win."  
    
  Belarus finished its round-robin with zero wins in four games. It will play  
  in  
  the relegation round. The newly promoted Belarusians have now lost six times  
  to the Czechs in World Junior history.  
    
  Today was a really good game for us, said Belarus forward Vadim Malinowski.  
  "I  
  think for two periods we played not bad. After the second period, we thought  
  we were going to win this game. But we made a mistake because probably we  
  didn't concentrate for a certain period too much. That's why we lost the  
  game  
  today."  
    
  In front of 8,456 fans at the Hartwall Arena, Simon Stransky and Jiri  
  Smejkal  
  notched a goal and an assist apiece for the Czechs, and Dominik Lakatos and  
  Dominik Masin also tallied.  
    
  Stepan Falkovski, Yegor Sharangovich, and Vladislav Goncharov replied for  
  Belarus.  
    
  Belarus netminder Ivan Kulbakov, who gained notoriety for leaving the bench  
  in  
  a vain attempt to prevent an empty-net goal in the 4-2 loss to Slovakia,  
  took  
  the defeat against Czech starter Vitek Vanecek. Shots favoured the Czechs  
  49-24.  
    
  The coach raised his voice after two periods, and we started to play better,  
  said Spacek. "We were lucky enough to come out with the win."  
    
  Similar to the Slovakia game, Belarus managed to hang tough with its  
  opponents  
  for most of the game, but couldn't produce enough offence to get the win.  
  One  
  positive was that the Belarus power play clicked twice. The Czechs hadn't  
  conceded a goal with the man advantage until this contest.  
    
  Midway through the first period, Belarus assistant captain Danila Karaban  
  was  
  shaken up and bloodied in the Czech end. He was helped off the ice, but  
  would  
  return to the game later. He made a big impact, picking up three assists.  
    
  The Czechs opened the scoring on a dandy unassisted goal at 15:39. Stransky  
  danced around defenceman Ilya Sushko at the Czech blue line, busted down the  
  left side, and fooled Kulbakov with his deke, going high to the blocker  
  side.  
    
  Just 43 seconds into the second period, Belarus tied it up. Falkovski  
  smartly  
  joined the rush, racing to the front of the net, taking Artemi Chernikov's  
  feed, and roofing one past Vanecek.  
    
  Belarus took a 2-1 lead on a power play goal at 10:26. Falkovski put the  
  puck  
  to the net from the right faceoff circle and when Karaban couldn't put it  
  home, Sharangovich pounced and converted the rebound.  
    
  The Czechs notched the equalizer two minutes later. David Pastrnak curled  
  and  
  lofted a long shot that was tipped by Dominik Lakatos and caught Kulbakov  
  sliding the wrong way. An official review confirmed that the puck was not  
  touched with a high stick.  
    
  Belarus refused to fold, however. Goncharev's power play blast from the left  
  point made it 3-2 with 2:29 left in the middle frame. The Belarusians leaped  
  up and down with joy.  
    
  In the third period, the Czechs drew even at 3-3 at 12:06. Smejkal stationed  
  himself next to the crease and shrugged off two Belarusian defenders to swat  
  home a puck rolling along. the goal line.  
    
  Just 2:14 later, the Czechs regained the lead for the first time since the  
  opening period. Vesely controlled the puck along the right side boards and  
  was  
  allowed to walk into the middle, where his stiff wrister eluded Kulbakov on  
  the blocker side.  
    
  Belarus strove to tie it up late, pulling its goalie with 54 seconds left,  
  but  
  it was in vain. Masin added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left to round  
  out  
  the scoring.  
    
  We came back in the third, and I thought we played like a team, said  
  Pastrnak.  
  "We turned it around. It's important points for us."  
    
  What will be the key for Belarus in relegation play? Malinowski said: "We  
  have  
  to concentrate for 60 minutes. We have to score more goals and make less  
  mistakes in our defensive zone."  
    
  This is the first time since the 2013 tournament in Ufa, Russia that the  
  Czechs have earned at least two regulation wins during the group stage. The  
  last time they won three group games was at the 2005 tournament in Grand  
  Forks, North Dakota, when they went on to capture their last medal  
  (bronze).  
    
  The passion for hockey in these two countries is unquestioned. At the 2014  
  IIHF World Championship, Belarus set a new tournament attendance record  
  (640,044), topping the previous mark set in the Czech Republic in 2004  
  (552,097). The new record lasted only until 2015, as the Czechs set the bar  
  higher by more than 100,000 spectators (741,690).  
    
  LUCAS AYKROYD  
    
  http://www.worldjunior2016.com/en/games/2015-12-30/CZE-vs-BLR/#recap  
  --- SBBSecho 2.30-Win32  
   * Origin: TequilaMockingbird Online - Toms River, NJ (1:266/404)