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Canucks Olympic Hockey Recap: Hronek and Kämpf pick up assists in Czech’s 4-3 overtime loss to Switzerland
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Photo credit: © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Feb 15, 2026, 19:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 15, 2026, 17:49 EST
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The preliminary round is officially behind us, and now we enter the always-threatening do-or-die stage of the tournament.
We’ve already covered how the Canadians faired today, winning in dominating fashion – 10-2 over the French – and have now officially clinched the No. 1 seed. However, it’s best to now check in on how the rest of the Vancouver Canucks representatives did on Sunday afternoon.

Switzerland vs. Czechia

The game started a bit slow for the Czech’s, being outshot 7-4 through the first three quarters of the opening period. But leave it to a Canuck to get his nation on the scoreboard.
GOAL: Filip Chlapik – Assists: Martin Necas and David Kämpf – 1-0 Czechia
Racing for the puck to try and clear the zone, Kämpf gets there in time to block the Swiss attempt to hold the zone. With his momentum going up ice, the puck follows Kämpf, and he battles the Swiss defender through the neutral zone before he can finally get enough on the pass to corral it forward to an open Necas. Now sprung on a two-on-one, Necas sends a backhand saucer pass to Clapik, who drops to a knee and fires the one-timer across the goal line.
The Czechs would sit on this lead for over a period before the Swiss scored back-to-back goals in less than two minutes.
GOAL: Roman Josi  – Assists: JJ Moser and Ken Jager – 1-1 tie
GOAL: Timo Meier – Assists: Roman Josi and Nico Hischier – 2-1 Switzerland
Filip Hronek’s defence partner, Radim Simek,
GOAL: Radim Simek – Assists: Filip Chlapik and Martin Necas – 2-2 tie
But that lead only lasted a minute and a half until former Canuck Pius Suter put the Swiss back on top.
GOAL: Pius Suter – Assists: JJ Moser and Timo Meier – 3-2 Switzerland
The Czechs continued to press, and even thought they had scored the game-tying goal. However, a goaltender interference penalty by David Pastrnak wiped the goal off the board with just over three minutes to play. But Czechia kept pressing and eventually got rewarded.
GOAL: Martin Necas – Assists: Filip Hronek and David Pastrnak – 3-3 tie
Necas gains the zone, but has the puck knocked off his stick. Pastrnak barely holds the line, but makes the proper move around the Swiss defender to find Hronek with open space. Selling shot, Hronek catches Necas on the far side, sliding the pass right into Necas’ wheelhouse. He’s not going to miss a one-time opportunity to tie the game like that very often, and he didn’t there.
Fast forward to overtime, where an unlikely hero emerged.
GOAL (OT): Dean Kukan – Assists: unassisted – 4-3 Switzerland Final.
The Zurich SC defenceman picked up the puck in the corner, and skates it himself the entire way before ripping an absolute howitzer into the top left corner blocker side on Lukas Dostal to secure second place in Group A.

Denmark vs. Latvia

Teddy Blueger and Team Latvia held the power to finish second in their division with a victory over a winless Danish squad. However, it wasn’t an ideal start for Latvia.
Uvis Balinskis has his pass blocked by a Danish stick, which redirects right to Mikkel Aagaard, who fires a slap pass to Nick Olesen to give Denmark the lead 23 seconds in.
GOAL: Nick Olesen – Assists: Mikkel Aagaard – 1-0 Denmark
And things got worse when the same duo beat Arturs Silovs for the second time, not even five minutes into the game.
GOAL: Mikkel Aagaard – Assists: Nick Olesen and Christian Wejse – 2-0 Denmark
It was a first period to forget for Latvia, as Carolina Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers extended the Danish lead to three off a rebound in front.
GOAL: Nikolaj Ehlers – Assists: Oliver Bjorkstrand and Markus Lauridsen – 3-0 Denmark
Latvia managed to walk into the first break with a little bit of pride, as with a delayed Denmark penalty in the dying seconds of the frame, Roberts Kristaps Zile fires a wrist shot from the point that catches Frederik Andersen looking.
GOAL: Roberts Kristaps Zile – Assists: Janis Jaks and Eduards Tralmaks – 3-1 Denmark
The Latvian’s made it interesting early in the second off a cross-crease set faceoff play.
GOAL: Eduards Tralmaks – Assists: Roberts Kristaps Zile and Zemgus Girgensons – 3-2 Denmark
Despite multiple chances, power play opportunities, and outshooting them 23-12 after pulling within one, Latvia was unable to muster a comeback. Denmark would ice the game with an empty net goal with two minutes remaining.
GOAL (EN): Nick Olesen – Assists: Oliver Lauridsen and Lars Eller – 4-2 Denmark Final.

Canucks

Filip Hronek: Logging a team-high 26:14 minutes of ice time (by nearly three minutes), Hronek picked up the spectacular game-tying assist, one shot on goal and an impressive plus-three rating. Despite the lone assist, Hronek’s impact was felt for the Czechs in such a pivotal game. To be on the ice for all three goals for and zero of the four against is as impressive as it gets. Hronek finishes the preliminary round with three assists, a plus-one rating and four shots on goal.
David Kämpf: Like his Canucks teammate, Kämpf’s defensive efforts were influential to today’s outcome, as he also finished with a plus-three rating – the only two Czechs to do so. Kämpf picked up the secondary assist on the opening goal of the game and had one shot on goal in 15:02 minutes of ice time. Today’s totals bring Kämpf to two assists, a plus-two rating and two shots on goal on the tournament.
Teddy Blueger: We haven’t expected much offence from Blueger in this tournament, as he has mostly been playing the matchup role. And that didn’t change today. Blueger did not find the scoresheet and finished with a minus-one rating in 16:40 minutes of ice time. He registered a shot on goal, which was a quality scoring chance shorthanded, but could not capitalize. Blueger finished the preliminary round pointless, with a minus-two rating and just the one shot on goal.
With today’s results, Hronek, Kämpf and the Czechs will finish as the eighth seed and take on Denmark in the qualifying round. On the other side, Blueger and the Latvians will take on Elias Pettersson and Team Sweden on Monday.

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