Ice Hockey champs Czech Republic

Czech Republic celebrates after scoring Reigning champions Czech Republic twice battled from a goal down to beat Latvia 4-2 in their opening Group D match at the world championships on Saturday. New Jersey Devils striker Patrick Elias and Minnesota Wild forward Martin Havlat both collected a goal and an assist, while goalie Ondrej Pavelec made 22 saves.

The Czechs outshot their rivals 13-4 in the first period, but it was Latvia who gained the lead at 9:04 when Larius Darzins beat Pavelec between the pads from close range.
Czech skipper Tomas Rolinek levelled with a sharp-angled shot with 2:13 remaining before the first break but Roberts Bukarts restored Latvia\'s lead wristing the puck into the net 1:21 into the second.

The champions replied positively pinning Latvia back and Elias levelled at 2-2 again with a sharp-angled shot.
Havlat put the Czechs into the lead early in the third period wristing the puck home from the left face-off circle when both teams were shorthanded, while Robert Cervenka finalised the scoring on a breakaway with 1:49 to go.
Norway also battled back from two goals down to upset last year bronze medalists Sweden 5-4, winning a penalty shootout in the Scandinavian derby at Kosice.

The Swedes were leading the score 3-1 after the first period but in the second they allowed the Norwegians to level at 3-3 on two powerplays.
In the third the opponents traded goals preceding overtime which ended goalless. In the penalty shootout Norway scored twice to clinch the win while Sweden missed both of their attempts.
In Group C the United States saw off just-promoted Austria 5-1.
America went into the lead 14:49 into the match through Boston college forward Chris Kreider, who skated from his own goal to the other side of the rink to send the puck in between Jurgen Penker\'s pad and the post.

Atlanta Thrashers striker Blake Wheeler added his goal with 2:45 remaining before the first break to give the US team a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Marco Pewal reduced the arrears at 34:00, but Mike Brown, Kevin Shattenkirk and Craig Smith netted one apiece to secure the US team\'s win.
The 1995 world champions Finland also notched three points in their campaign-opener beating 5-1 Denmark in the early Group D match at Bratislava.

Denmark, the wonder of the last year\'s championship, where they beat Finns, USA and thrashed 6-0 Slovakia to clinch their first ever quarter-final place, battled bravely but in vain.
Denmark defended well forcing their rivals into fruitless long-range shots, which \'keeper Fredrick Andersen confidently stopped in the first period.
But he was unable to stop Jarkko Immonen\'s opener with a powerful slap shot 3:57 into the second. Juhamatti Aaltonen made it 2-0 for Finland on powerplay with 3:34 remaining before the second break.

Antti Pihlstrom, Mikael Granlund and Tuomo Ruutu were on target for Finland in the third, while Nichlas Hardt netted a consolation for Denmark.
\"We played good today, with passion but also with a good discipline,\" Finland manager Jukka Jalonen said.