Dallas Stars News: Radek Faksa, Czechs Fall To Russia In Shootout

The 2019 World Championship ends today in Slovakia. And though the Czech Republic pushed to the shootout in their bronze medal game against Russia, they couldn’t come up with a win. That means that Dallas Stars forward Radek Faksa will head home without a medal.

In years past, the IIHF World Championship has been a breeding ground for success for many Dallas Stars players.

From John Klingberg and Mattias Janmark winning a gold medal with Sweden in the 2018 Championship, to Klingberg also adding a gold in 2017, to Esa Lindell scoring a silver medal with Finland in 2016, and even the trio of Cody Eakin, Jason Spezza, and Tyler Seguin winning gold with Canada in 2015, it’s provided various Stars with an opportunity to compete and battle with their home countries for a little bit of hardware.

In addition, it also offers them a chance to play past the end of the Stars’ campaign back on North American soil. And while competing for the Stanley Cup in the NHL is always the top choice, the World Championship offers a positive alternative.

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Towards the final part of the 2018-19 season, it didn’t look as though the Dallas Stars would be sending any players to the Championship in Slovakia. That’s due in large part to the impressive stretch they put together both at the end the regular season and in the first part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But after building a 3-2 series lead against the St. Louis Blues in the second round, the Stars slipped. They dropped an important Game 6 on home ice and shifted back to St. Louis for Game 7, where they lost in double overtime.

Even though this Dallas Stars team technically played deeper into the season than any Stars team since 2008, they still fell short of the ultimate goal.

And so, the 2019 World Championship came into play as a viable option for the members of the team that still wanted to compete. As a result, John Klingberg (Sweden) and Radek Faksa (Czech Republic) headed over to Slovakia to compete with their home countries.

Both ended up helping their teams advance past the preliminary round and secure spots in the playoff bracket. But, after dropping a narrow loss to Finland in the quarterfinals, Klingberg and the Swedes exited the tournament early.

On the other hand, Faksa and the Czechs surged through the quarterfinals with a 5-1 win over Germany. Faksa posted a +1 rating in the game as the Czechs advanced to the final four. There, they were halted by Canada in a 5-1 loss and sent to the bronze medal game against Russia on Sunday morning.

And though the Czech Republic held an early lead against the Russians, they weren’t able to close it out in regulation as Artem Anisimov scored to tie things up in the second period. The game eventually advanced to overtime and a shootout, where goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy went perfect in the crease to help Russia secure the bronze.

Faksa once again went pointless in the game to finish the tournament with one goal, four points, and a -1 rating in seven games.

The rest of the tournament will play out on Sunday afternoon as Finland and Canada duke it out for the gold medal.