Ice Hockey World Championship:

8:0! Finland crushes Great Britain

Finland gave Great Britain no chance.(Bild: AFP/APA/Michal Cizek)

World champions Canada and Olympic champions Finland celebrated clear favorite victories at the Ice Hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic on Sunday. Canada, Austria's next opponent on Tuesday (20:20), defeated Denmark 5:1 (2:0,0:1,3:0) in Prague. The 18-year-old Connor Bedard scored two goals again and leads the scoring list with four goals. Finland recorded their first win with an 8:0 (1:0,5:0,2:0) victory over newly promoted Great Britain.

Canada had been boosted by a real superstar after the opener. John Tavares flew to the Czech Republic after the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated and led the defending champions as captain on Sunday. The 2014 Olympic champion set up the 2-0 through Dylan Cozens (16./PP) after super talent Bedard had scored the opener (3.).

However, the Danes, 5:1 winners over the ÖEHV team the day before, sold themselves dearly and scored the equalizer through Christina Wejse (27). Thanks to Bedard (42'), the world champions pulled away to 3:1, Dawson Mercer into the empty net (58') and Pierre-Luc Dubois (60'/PP) added two more goals in the final.

Finland had no problems with Great Britain in the midday game. The 20-year-old Oliver Kapanen with a hat-trick and NHL rookie Mikael Granlund with four assists stood out from the Suomi team.

First points for Slovakia
In Group B in Ostrava, Slovakia picked up their first points with a 6:2 (3:0,1:1,2:1) win over Kazakhstan. France lost 3:2 in overtime to Latvia after leading 1:0. The Latvians had turned the game around in the third period (2:1), with Kaspars Daugavins scoring the decisive goal in overtime.