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Finland and Czech Republic Tie it on
Written by: Chris McCluskey on 12/31/2002 
The Czechs maintained great pressure throughout the match, throwing everything they had at the 19 year old Atlanta Thrashers goaltending prospect but could only find the twine twice. Lehtonen made difficult stops look routine including a save off of a quick Jan Holub shot from the top of the right circle and stoning an unwatched Petr Taticek who had all the time in the world to bury it but couldn't put it past the Finnish netminder. The Czechs finally got one past Lehtonen at 19:25 but unfortunately Jiri Hudler rang it off both posts with a sweeping backhand and it remained scoreless after one.
It was the Finns who got on the board first three minutes into the second when the puck seemed to be jammed against Holub's skate in front of Czech net. But Matti Aho banged it loose and beat a screened Martin Falter who, although only facing 17 shots, made a lot of remarkable saves at the other end of the ice. Team Czech Republic would reply midway through the period when Jiri Hudler, who is definitely one of the most noticeable players in the tournament, finally beat Lehtonen on a one-on-one by blasting a howitzer from the top circle over the glove side shoulder of the Finn goaltender to make the score one aside. The score remained that way through two periods with Lehtonen's significance to his team verified in shots with the Czech Republic far ahead by a count of 26-11.
A scary moment for the Czechs early in the third happened when their own star goaltender Martin Falter seemed to be grimacing on the ice after making a series of difficult saves. He left the ice under his own strength and immediately had a towel wrapped around his neck, but he would return. Ottawa 67s starter Lukas Mensator took to the crease for about seven minutes and faced two shots but one of them managed to get by the goaltender who, to his credit, came in cold. Tomi Maki beat Mensator with a snapper to put the Finns up 2-1. Falter came back in at 12:03 to finish the game but due to the outstanding play of Lehtonen it looked like the damage was done.
The highest European goaltender ever drafted in the NHL turned aside everything coming his way including a great shoulder save off of Tomas Fleischmann and a stop on Hudler who accepted a pass from his defencive zone at the Finn blue line and came in all alone. It looked like the Finns would come away a miraculous two points but the Czechs' desperation and determination finally paid off as 2003 draft prospect Milan Michalek broke out of his scoring slump, spinning and sliding a Jiri Hudler rebound past Lehtonen who had no chance and the score was tied up at two.
It would remain that way for the rest of the game as the Finns killed off the remaining four minutes. Kari Lehtonen must have been a unanimous decision for player of the game for the Finns who will have to step it up against the Canadians on New Years Eve for a game that will decide who will get the coveted first place position in the standings. Although he has had a very disappointing tournament so far, Milan Michalek received player of the game honors for scoring the game tying goal. The Czechs are back in action against Team Sweden Tuesday afternoon.
PERIOD 1
Scoring:
none
Penalties:
0:48 FIN Timonen 2 (Holding)
10:37 FIN Jaaskelainen 2 (Holding)
11:53 CZE Novotny 2 (Holding)
PERIOD 2
Scoring:
3:56 FIN Aho 1 (Niinimaki)
13:49 CZE Hudler 2 (Novotny, Krajicek)
Penalties:
9:02 FIN Maki 2 (Interference)
15:32 FIN Bergenheim 2 (Boarding)
PERIOD 3
Scoring:
8:03 FIN Maki 1 (Jaakola, Mikkonen)
15:56 CZE Michalek 1 (Hudler, Klepis)
Penalties:
8:10 FIN Lehtisalo 2 (Hooking)
14:37 FIN Fagerstedt 2 (Interference)
------------------------------------------------------- PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Finland: Kari Lehtonen, 33 saves
Czech Republic: Milan Michalek, 1 goal (game tying)
-------------------------------------------------------
GOALTENDERS
Finland: Kari Lehtonen (2-0-1)
Czech Republic: Martin Falter, 0:00-45:44 &
52:03-60:00 (1-1-1), Lukas Mensator (45:44-52:03)
------------------------------------------------------- LINE COMBINATIONS
Finland:
Juntunen-Jokinen-Ruutu
Bergenheim-Maki-Naatatnen
Aho-Niinimaki-Mikkonen
Lehtisalo-Fagerstedt-Sykko
Pitkanen-Jaakola
Timonen-Immonen
Jaaskelainen-Jalasvaara
Kalteva
Czech Republic:
Michalek-Hudler-Klepis
Domin-Vondracek-Novak
Novotny-Taticek-Fleischmann
Koreis-Dvorak-Micka
Karajicek-Puncochar
Chmelir-Holub
Toms-Turon
Svoboda-Kolda
------------------------------------------------------- SHOTS ON GOAL
1 2 3 F Finland 8 3 8 19 Czech Republic 14 12 9 35
------------------------------------------------------- OFFICIALS
Referee: Alexander Poliakov
Linesmen: Miroslav Halecky, John Costello
Copyright 2002 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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