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Portugal finally wins to secure last playoff spot for knockout phase

6. 6. 2017 | Marek Kratochvíl
An early goal from Justin Cabral put the Portuguese in the lead and they took it from there. They were the better side in the evening clash with Italy, scoring twice in each period and allowed only one goal late in the game and on a power play. Now they go to the preliminary round on Wednesday, where their playoff journey starts.
 

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Michael Verrelli (captain, Team Italy): Portugal worked better than us and deserved to win today. They got the result they wanted. We tried to be prepared to play them, but unfortunately we came up short.

Matthew David (forward of Portugal): “We know we played three good games even though we had three losses. There were good periods, good chances. We knew it was just a matter of time that everything is gonna click. That’s what we kept in our head. Every goal is a momentum and hockey is all about momentum. And if you get that early, it helps every team. And if you have a good bench and everything follows after that, that’s when it hurts. Now, we want to shock the world. Nobody thinks Portugal is a contender, but if you can stay with Czech Republic in a one-goal game, we know we can compete with anybody.