The third World Championship took place in Norway from 14th to 21st May 2000. The towns of Drammen and Sarpsborg hosted the group stage, whereas the play-off matches were played in Oslo. The Swedes recorded their first golden hat-trick at this tournament, winning all their matches along the way. The Czechs failed to reach the play-offs for the second straight time.
Group A was dominated by the defending champions from Sweden. The battle for the second qualifying spot into the semifinals followed the exact same scenario like two years before. Norway again drew with Denmark and ended third due to their worse score.
In Group B, the Czechs sensationally drew with Finland 2-2. Before, they defeated Russia 5-1 and lost to Switzerland 2-3 in a very close match. Not even these good results and performances helped them reach the semifinals. Finland advanced from the first position, accompanied by Switzerland from the second.
The Czech Republic, therefore, again faced Norway in a 5th place game. Unfortunately, no vendetta took place and the Czechs didn’t succeed. The Norwegians won clearly 5-2 and consigned the Czechs to the 6th place.
The semifinals featured the same teams as two years ago, only swapped in the pairings. Sweden faced Switzerland, but didn’t let anyone thwart their plans to defend the World Championship title. They didn’t leave anything to chance in the match, thrashing their opponents 8-2.
The other semifinal featured Finland and Denmark. There were no doubts about the match favorite and no surprise happened here either. The Danes scored only once while conceding six times themselves and so Finland joined Sweden in the final pairing, which later became a rather traditional one.
Switzerland beat Denmark 4-2 in the 3rd place game. Following the silver medals from the previous championship they took bronze this time. They indeed started their journey through the World Championships in high style. To compare, the Czech team ended once on the 4th position and twice on the 6th position during the same period.
The final match between the defending champions from Sweden and their challengers from Finland was extremely tight with interesting score progress. Finland went into the lead, but their rivals later turned the score around to make it 4-1. The blue-and-whites managed to close the gap to one goal but the Swedes confirmed their 5-3 victory with a last-minute goal, recording their first golden hat-trick.
The Czechs could see a
small comfort for their disappointment in Radim Cepek’s very good final
standing in the individual statistics – he fought his way up to the 9th place
in the huge competition of Scandinavian floorball stars, just two points short
of the winning trio – Karppanen (Finland), Olofsson, and Hellgard (both
Sweden).
Latvia Overcomes Norway after Penalty Shootout – 8.12.2018
Data Analysis: Czech Republic vs Denmark 10-1 – 8.12.2018
DAY 8: Battles for Final Start, Quarterfinal Losers to Fight for Fifth Place – 8.12.2018
Day 7 Summary: Favorites Sail through to Semis, Championship Again Offers Fantastic Atmosphere – 8.12.2018
Slovakia Takes 9th Place after Exciting Victory over Estonia – 7.12.2018
Finland Becomes Last Semifinalist after 6-1 Win against Germany – 7.12.2018
Canada Edges out Australia Thanks to Huge Comeback in Third Period – 7.12.2018
Sweden Advances to Semifinals after Beating Latvia – 7.12.2018
Poland Outclasses Thailand 9-1 to Grab 13th Place – 7.12.2018
Takizawa Scores Twice as Japan Beats Singapore 4-2 to Take 15th Place – 7.12.2018
Data Analysis: Group Stage Summary – 7.12.2018
DAY 7: Two Quarterfinals and Final Placement Matches on Schedule – 7.12.2018
Day 6 Summary: Czechs Easily through, Switzerland Stumbles, Attendance Record Broken – 7.12.2018
New WFC Attendance record – 6.12.2018
Data Analysis: Sweden vs Denmark 25-0 – 6.12.2018
Czech Republic Comfortably Wins Over Denmark to Reach Semifinals – 6.12.2018
Estonia Outclasses Canada 9-2 to Face Slovakia in 9th Place Game – 6.12.2018
Switzerland Gets Past Norway in Overtime Drama – 6.12.2018
Slovakia Beats Australia 12-3, Will Fight for 9th Place Tomorrow – 6.12.2018
Data Analysis: Norway vs Finland 1-9 – 6.12.2018