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Team Sweden won the 2018 IIHF Hockey World Championship

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Team Sweden

Team Sweden won their 2nd consecutive gold in the IIHF 2018 Hockey World Championship in Denmark. As in the IIHF 2017, the final game was decided by a shootout. Then, Sweden’s national team “Three Crowns” defeated Team Canada. This year, Switzerland was the opponent.

The road to the finals

The 2018 edition of the Three Crowns was characterized by two features a) 20 players from the national hockey league (NHL), b) an average age of only 24 years. The team got the best possible start of the group stage by defeating Belarus 5-0. Game number two, against Czech Republic, was tougher, but Sweden managed to grab the odd goal 3-2 win. France was defeated 4-0 in an unusual dirty game. The game against Austria became a feast among the crowd as well as on the ice (7-0). The fifth game, against Slovakia, was tighter and Sweden managed to score the decider, 4-3, in overtime. The upcoming opponent in the final, Switzerland, was outmaneuvered with relative easy, in a 5-3 victory. The last game, against Russia, was a group final where the winner would face Latvia and the loser Canada. The Three Crowns managed to come back and turn 0-1 to 3-1. Russia later lost the quarterfinal against Canada in overtime.

In the playoffs, the quarterfinal against Latvia Sweden showed a somewhat crampy performance, where Latvia played an effective defense, and deadly counterattacks. Finally, Sweden managed to win 3-2. In the semifinal, Team USA led by Chicago Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane was waiting. USA eliminated Czech Republic in the quarterfinal. The last time USA won a world championship was in 1960(!). They were the best team in the first period of the semifinal, but somehow Sweden managed to get away with a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. In the second period, USA got a 4 minute powerplay only to see Magnus Pääjärvi score 2-0. USA never recovered after this. After an idiot move by Johnny Gaudreau, using his stick as a baseball bat, Sweden scored in their powerplay. Then, another quick goal came from nowhere, and Sweden was suddenly up by 4 after 40 minutes of play. The final period was basically just about playing on the result for the Three Crowns, and the final score was written to 6-0. USA won the bronze game against Canada later (4-1).

On the other side of the playoff tree, a disciplined Switzerland first eliminated group winners Finland 3-2, and then Canada with the same figures.

Sweden won the final against Switzerland

The final game between Sweden and Switzerland was a replay of the 2013 final, when Sweden won on home ice (first team to do that since the Soviet Union gold in 1986), defeating Switzerland 5-1. Like then, Switzerland got the 1-0 lead. Sweden got the quick equalized and the score was 1-1 after 20 minutes of play. Switzerland got the 2-1 lead in the second period. Then, Sweden put the pedal to the metal and spent over three minutes in the offensive zone. 2-2 came in the powerplay.In the third period, both teams had their chances to score the decider. Sweden could not convert on a couple of breakaways.

The overtime was characterized by careful 4 vs 4 play, where no team wanted to make any mistake. This game was to be decided by a shootout. At stake was Switzerland’s first world championship gold ever, or Sweden’s 11th. The Swiss scored at their first penalty shot, while Sweden missed. However, after two goals by Oliver Ekman-Larsson (who also scored in the shootout against Canada in 2017) and Filip Forsberg, Sweden won the shootout with two goals to one. The victory gave Sweden and Three Crowns their 2nd consecutive world championship win, just like they did with their young team in 1991 + 1992. One has to feel sorry for Switzerland who manage to pull off their game plan with precision and was as close to a gold medal as a team can come.

The Swedish gold was a result of hard work of coach Rikard Grönborg and his staff. They have managed to raise the professionalism in the Three Crowns a few notches, and make the world championship an attractive tournament and end of season for the NHL players that are eliminated in the North American Stanley Cup playoffs. The players enjoy the idea of youthful entusiasm and classic, Sweden defensive plays. This is the New Sweden!

IIHF World Championship 2017: Sweden won the gold!

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Team Sweden

When Sweden’s head coach Rikard Grönborg got 19 reinforcements from the NHL in this year’s edition of the Three Crowns, Sweden was ranked as one of the favorites for the gold in the World Championship behind Canada and Russia. Strong names such as Nicklas Bäckström, William Nylander and Henrik Lundqvist could be found in the squad. However, at the start of the tournament, Sweden had difficulties getting their game together. Sloppy plays and unnecessary penalties put their mark on the games. Sweden beat the weaker nations in the group stage, but lost to the main opponents USA and Russia. USA won the group and Sweden grabbed the third position, behind Russia.

Playoffs

So far, a Three Crowns filled with NHL-players had two losses against Russia and the United States and wins against Germany, Latvia, Denmark, Slovakia and Italy. In the quarterfinals, Switzerland awaited. They managed to get second place in their group, behind Canada. Sweden got the expected victory, 3-1. Rough for Switzerland, who has been eliminated by Sweden a number of times through the years, including in the World Championships in 1998, 2013 and the Olympic Games in 2006.

In the semi-finals, the Nordic rivals Finland awaited. They had a sluggish introduction to the tournament, but managed to beat a sleepy United States in the quarterfinals. Sweden tamed the Finnish lions, through a 4-1 victory.

On the other side of the playoff tree, Canada had advanced to the finals. They beat the host nation Germany in the quarterfinals, 2-1. The semifinal against Russia was a fast-phased game, with Russia leading 2-0 before the third period. Canada showed great morale and managed to turn the game in their favor through four straight goals. Impressive. The question was how Three Crowns would be able to beat their nightmare opponent in the final? Sweden had lost against Canada in the World Championship final before in 1997, 2003 and 2004.

The final game

Three Crowns played a convincing game in the finals, with disciplined defense, stable attacks and a Henrik Lundqvist on top in the goal. The first period ended scoreless. The first goal of the game came in the second period 20 seconds before the break. Victor Hedman sent a bouncing puck on goal in the boxplay. Somehow the puck found the back of the Canadian net. 1-0 Sweden. In the beginning of the third period, Canada tied the game after a cheap penalty. Both teams then had a powerplay each without being able to convert. The score was 1-1 after 60 minutes of play.

The game could not be decided during overtime and the shootout awaited. Henrik Lundqvist came out on top, stopping four out of four penalty shots, which was enough to win the gold after Nicklas Bäckström and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on their penalties. Another classic shootout, which made many Swedes remember the final against Canada in the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, where Sweden won the gold after a classic penalty shot by Peter Forsberg.

A classic Swedish team with both old and new profiles won the Three Crown’s 10th World Championship.

William Nylander was named the best player of the tournament. His victory jump in the hands of Henrik Lundqvist is already legendary.

Captain Joel Lundqvist, Henrik’s twin brother, took his third World Championship gold. In a Three Crown without NHL reinforcements, Grönborg expects he will lead the team in the Olympic Games of 2018.

Nicklas Bäckström finally got to play the final he missed in the 2014 Olympic Games in.

Anton Strålman finally got to win something in his career.

There are many stories to tell about this classic Swedish team!

IIHF World Championship 2017: Quarter finals

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The group stage of the Hockey World Championship 2017 is over and a total of eight teams have advanced to the playoffs. The following teams will face each other in the quarter finals on Thursday May 18:

Switzerland – Sweden

A NHL-reinforced Three Crowns advanced to the playoffs without any major issues. On the other hand, Sweden lost to both Russia and the United States, which were the biggest competitors in the group. Sweden has played a bit sloppy and has suffered from many unnecessary penalties. However, the years when Sweden has won the gold, they have usually done so after a poor group stage, followed by excellent playoffs. Switzerland grabbed a spot in the playoffs after some mixed achievements, an overtime win over Canada perhaps being the biggest one. Sweden has good experiences of playing Switzerland in the playoffs; the gold years 1998 and 2013, and the Olympic Games in Torino 2006. The winner faces the United States or Finland in the semifinal.

Canada – Germany

One of the host nations, Germany, advanced to the playoffs. The World Championships are played in Cologne and Paris. Unfortunately, France did not succeed in advancing from the group stage this year, despite a convincing win against Finland. Canada won its group comfortably and is one of the favorites of the gold, together with Russia and Sweden. The winner faces Russia or the Czech Republic.

Russia – Czech Republic

Russia finished second in the group after losing against the United States in the last match. In the quarterfinals, the Czech Republic is difficult to assess: they have many reinforcements from the NHL but have not more than they should in the group stage. The winner faces Canada or Germany.

USA – Finland

Finland is the disappointment of the tournament so far, including a 1-5 (!) loss against France. The lions barely made it to the quarterfinals and here they will face USA who has played an convincing game so far, winning their group ahead of Russia and Sweden.On the other hand, Finland can play completely without pressure and expectations, so you never know. The winner faces Switzerland or Sweden.

We believe these teams will meet in the semifinals:

Sweden – USA
Russia – Canada

We summarize: The 2015 Ice Hockey World Championships

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Team Canada

The Ice Hockey World Championship is over for this time and we have experienced an amazing tournament in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic the last two weeks. This year’s World Championships was marked by participation of a lot of players from the NHL which raised the quality of the games considerably. The Czech audience has also been world-class, even in games where the host nation didn’t play. We have enjoyed the info, movies and statistics from the tournaments official site during these two weeks: http://www.iihfworlds2015.com/

The stars

Before the World Championships started, many stars from the NHL announced that they would play in the tournament. Russia got their usual core from KHL and added to that a number of superstars from NHL where Jevgenij Malkin might have been the most famous one, together with Alexander Ovechkin who joined the team for the semifinal. Sweden also got a number of reinforcements from North America, many young players such as Filip Forsberg and Oliver Ekman-Larsson which we have seen play in the junior championships now took another step in their career, taking leading roles in the national team, side with side by established stars such as Loui Eriksson. One of the world’s best hockey players, Sidney Crosby, who had won both the Stanley Cup and Olympics, announced that he would come and play for team Canada after Pittsburgh Penguins got eliminated from the 2015 Stanley Cup by New York Rangers. The brightest star this tournament was probably Czech veteran Jaromir Jagr. The 43-year-old legend is still playing at top-level in the NHL and now he got to finish his career in the national team at home. He was a big reason to Czech Republic reaching the semifinal with 2 goals and 1 assist in the quarterfinal against Finland.

After the end of the tournament media nominated an all-star team:

Goalkeeper: Connor Hellebuyck, United States

Defenders: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Sweden and Brent Burns, Canada

Forwards: Jaromir Jagr, Czech Republic – Jason Spezza, Canada – Taylor Hall, Canada

Jason Spezza got the most points in the tournament with 14 points in 10 matches, 6 goals and 8 assists. Canada was so dominant in this tournament that they had actually place two and three points in the scoring league as well (Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall).

Preliminary round

In group A Canada soon emerged as a very dominant team. For the rest of the teams, it was about trying to secure place 2-4 to reach the playoffs. Sweden quickly got an advantage here after beating Czech Republic on shootout in the first game. They got the second place in the group and went to the playoffs with the Czech Republic and Switzerland behind.

Group B was more open. It began with team USA crushing Finland 5-1. However, Finland tightened their game and didn’t let in a goal for three straight games. Belarus played decent hockey few matches and beat team USA. The Russians didn’t exactly push themselves to their limits in the group stage. Slovakia missed the playoffs. United States won the group ahead of Finland. Russia and Belarus placed third and fourth.

Playoffs

In the playoffs Sweden faced Russia in the quarterfinals. After 21 minutes of play, the Russians were ahead by 3-0. Sweden worked their way into the game however, and managed to tie it 3-3. Unfortunately, the deciding event was an unfortunate bounce on a Swedish defenders skate in the third period. 4-3 and Sweden was eliminated.In the other quarter-finals Canada kept their dominance, beating Belarus 9-0. USA outmaneuvered Switzerland and Jaromir Jagr scored three points when Finland got eliminated against Czech Republic in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

In the semi-finals Canada could relatively easy knock out Czech Republic, stopping their offensive play. USA against Russia was an exciting game during one period before the Russians stepped on the throttle and began producing on the offense. United States got the bronze medal however, and Jaromir Jagr’s tale in the Czech national team ended with fourth place. In the final game Canada once again showed their greatness. After sixty minutes played, Russia had been completely outplayed and the result were written to 6-1 Canada. It could probably have been 10-0 but Canada slowed down the phase i the third period, allowing a consolation goal.

Concluding thoughts

What will we take with us from the world championships in the Czech Republic 2015? For the Swedish part, we have a lot of interesting names that will grow into big stars in the NHL. Filip Forsberg can become an heir to a certain Peter Forsberg, though they are not related. He has the same temperament and physical style of play, even if he is more a pure scorer there “Foppa” was an assistant king. However, we must have with all our best players if we are to beat countries like Canada and Russia. They have ten times as many players to choose from that we have and therefore we are more dependent on “yes please” from our professionals when it comes to play in Tre Kronor. Finally, we note that a hockey game lasts for sixty minutes. That we became aware of after losing despite a 3-0 lead against Canada in the group stage. Every minute counts, it’s the team that can manage the whole game who will win. Potential is not enough, you have to get the maximum effect out of the team too. How this equation is best solved coach Pär Mårts will have to think about before the World Ice Hockey Championships in 2016 in Russia.

Triple Gold Club of Hockey

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The triple gold club of hockey consists of those players who have won 1. Stanley Cup 2. Olympics and 3. World Championships. The latest addition to the club is Pavel Datsyuk, who became a member when Russia won the 2018 Olympics. When Canada won the gold in WC 2015, Sidney Crosby became the 26th member of the club. He is the only player that has been captain for his team in all three tournaments. When Sweden won their second Olympic hockey gold in the 2006 Winter Olympics, Peter Forsberg became the only player that has won the tournaments two times. Below are all the members, sorted by country. As we can see, Canada and Sweden is in a shared top position in a club that so far only has members from four countries. Finland, USA and Slovakia are trailing behind. Finland and Slovakia lack Olympic gold medals while USA haven’t won the World Championships since 1960 and the Olympics since Miracle on Ice 1980.

Sweden (9)

Tomas Jonsson
Mats Näslund
Håkan Loob
Peter Forsberg
Nicklas Lidström
Fredrik Modin
Niklas Kronwall
Henrik Zetterberg
Mikael Samuelsson

Canada (9)

Rob Blake
Joe Sakic
Brendan Shanahan
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Erik Staal
Jonathan Toews
Patrice Bergeron
Sidney Crosby
Corey Perry

Russia (7)

Valerij Kamenski
Alexej Gusarov
Vjateslav Fetisov
Igor Larionov
Alexander Mogilny
Vladmir Malakhov
Pavel Datsyuk

Czech Republic(2)

Jaromir Jagr
Jiri Slegr

The only coach that is a member of the club is Canada’s Mike Babcock.

Ice Hockey World Championships 2015: Results from the semifinals

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International ice hockey

Canada keep their dominance in the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. After beating the host nation they will now face Russia in the final, who won the semifinal against USA.

Canada 2-0 Czech Republic

The crowd in O2 Arena got to see a one-sided affair with a busy Pavelec in the Czechs goal. 8:40 into the first period Sidney Crosby and Jordan Eberle assisted Taylor Hall who did no mistake, making it 1-0 to Team Canada. While Canada dominated the game, they lacked their regular effectiveness, hitting the posts and crossbar a number of times. 9 minutes into the second period Jason Spezza increased the lead to 2-0. Czech Republic thought they reduced the lead to 2-1 but the referee did wash out, making a call for a questionable offside in front of Mike Smith in the Canadian goal.

USA 0-3 Russia

The second period in the semifinal between these two teams was one of the best periods in the tournament. Both teams exchanged chances and the score could easily have been 3-3 at the 40 minutes break. However, that was not the case and both teams went into the third period with no goals scored. Seven minutes into the third period, Mozyakin skated into the offensive zone and shot the first goal of the game for Russia. It was a good shot, but looking at all the clear goal chances in the second period, it felt like it came from nowhere. The second goal also came from a great individual effort. A day ago, superstar Alexander Ovechkin lost game seven in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Stanley Cup with his Washington Capitals as New York Rangers won in overtime.  Now in the World Championships, he got the puck in front of the net and put a laser beam behind Connor Hellebuyck in the American goal. This was now Russia’s game all over. Shipachyov scored 3-0 on a rebound. Team USA gambled by pulling their goalie with four minutes left but this resulted in a beautiful Russian goal in open net: Malkin to Ovechkin to Malkin, bam! 4-0 Russia, game over.

Russia vs Canada in the final

Russia and Canada will play the final Sunday May 17. Russia won the World Championships in Minsk last year. The last time Canada won the tournament was in 2007. Russia beat Canada in the 2008 and 2009 finals. The final 2008 was a spectacular win on Canadian home soil. However, this year Canada has dominated the tournament with superstars like Sidney Crosby and Tyler Seguin. The final will be a blast, no matter what team wins the gold.

Ice Hockey World Championships 2015: Results from the semifinals

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International ice hockey

Canada keep their dominance in the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. After beating the host nation they will now face Russia in the final, who won the semifinal against USA.

Canada 2-0 Czech Republic

The crowd in O2 Arena got to see a one-sided affair with a busy Pavelec in the Czechs goal. 8:40 into the first period Sidney Crosby and Jordan Eberle assisted Taylor Hall who did no mistake, making it 1-0 to Team Canada. While Canada dominated the game, they lacked their regular effectiveness, hitting the posts and crossbar a number of times. 9 minutes into the second period Jason Spezza increased the lead to 2-0. Czech Republic thought they reduced the lead to 2-1 but the referee did wash out, making a call for a questionable offside in front of Mike Smith in the Canadian goal.

USA 0-3 Russia

The second period in the semifinal between these two teams was one of the best periods in the tournament. Both teams exchanged chances and the score could easily have been 3-3 at the 40 minutes break. However, that was not the case and both teams went into the third period with no goals scored. Seven minutes into the third period, Mozyakin skated into the offensive zone and shot the first goal of the game for Russia. It was a good shot, but looking at all the clear goal chances in the second period, it felt like it came from nowhere. The second goal also came from a great individual effort. A day ago, superstar Alexander Ovechkin lost game seven in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Stanley Cup with his Washington Capitals as New York Rangers won in overtime.  Now in the World Championships, he got the puck in front of the net and put a laser beam behind Connor Hellebuyck in the American goal. This was now Russia’s game all over. Shipachyov scored 3-0 on a rebound. Team USA gambled by pulling their goalie with four minutes left but this resulted in a beautiful Russian goal in open net: Malkin to Ovechkin to Malkin, bam! 4-0 Russia, game over.

Russia vs Canada in the final

Russia and Canada will play the final Sunday May 17. Russia won the World Championships in Minsk last year. The last time Canada won the tournament was in 2007. Russia beat Canada in the 2008 and 2009 finals. The final 2008 was a spectacular win on Canadian home soil. However, this year Canada has dominated the tournament with superstars like Sidney Crosby and Tyler Seguin. The final will be a blast, no matter what team wins the gold.

Ice Hockey World Championships 2015: Finnish superzeroes

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Team Finland

Before tonight’s game against Slovakia, Finland had not let in a goal for three games, after beginning the tournament with a 1-5 loss against Team USA. They were thus chasing a tournament record (in modern time) for most minutes without letting in a goal. In the other games today France put up a good fight against Canada, as did Switzerland against Sweden. Russia crushed little brother Belarus and Latvia and Austria got some important points in the bottom of group A. Denmark and Norway met in the Viking Derby of this tournament.

Sweden 2-1 (ot) Switzerland

Sweden got the early lead after a goal by Elias Lindholm seven minutes into the first period. In the same period Switzerland got the equalizer according to the referee but an awake goal referee called for attention, noting that the puck didn’t cross the goal line. However, in the third period Switzerland got the whole puck over the line, again after a decision by the goal judge, tying the game which went to overtime. There, after another odd call from the referee, resulting in a penalty for Switzerland, Filip Forsberg scored the decisive goal for Sweden.

France 3-4 Canada

Tyler Seguin and Jordan Eberle gave Canada the 2-0 lead in the first period while France could reduce it to one goal before the first break. Seguin scored his second power play goal of the day in the second period, giving Canada a comfortable 3-1 lead. However, France came back in the third period, tying the game 3-3. After a boarding penalty on Teddy Trabichet, Canada could once again score in power play with 11 minutes left of the third period. 3-4 was the final result and Canada got revenge on France who won the game between the two teams in the 2014 World Championships.

Belarus 0-7 Russia

Belarus has been the surprise team in group B so far in this tournament, winning against leading team USA the other night. However, against big brother in the east, things didn’t quite go their way. Ilya Kovalchuk began the goal scoring with his 1-0 goal in the first period. After 60 minutes Russia had seven different goal scorers in the protocol and won the game 7-0.

Finland 3-0 Slovakia

As mentioned above, Finland were chasing a record for not letting in goals. Their star goalkeeper Pekka Rinne was ill and had to watch the game from the spectator stands however. 20-year-old talent Juuse Saros got to guard the Finnish net today. He did no mistake. After 40 minutes of play the score was 0-0. Finland scored three straight goals in the third period, letting in zero. The modern time record is 242 minutes and 38 seconds without giving up a goal. In 1937 Great Britains Jimmy Foster played 315 minutes without letting in a goal. At that time the games were played for 3×15 minutes. For the last years, Finnish hockey has been more defensive based than in the 90’s when they were more known for their speed.

Austria 1-2 (ot) Latvia

Extremely important points were at stake in this game where both teams are risking elimination from the tournament. The score was 1-1 after 60 minutes of play and Latvia scored the decisive 2-1 goal in overtime. This places Latvia in sixth place with four points, before France with 3 points and Austria last with 3 points and worse goal difference than France (internal result will count before goal difference). The last team of the group will be regelated to division 1. Lets take a look at the teams coming schedule and predict who will be regelated:

France: Sweden, Latvia, prediction: 0 points = 3 points in total
Latvia: France, prediction: 3 points = 7 points in total
Austria: Germany, Canada, prediction: 0 points = 3 points in total

According to the above, internal result will decide if France or Austria gets regelated. Things aren’t looking good for Austria since they lost 0-2 against France and their best hope is to grab a point or two against Germany.

Ice Hockey World Championships 2015: Belarus beat team USA 5-2

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Tre Kronor2

A few days ago we wrote about the status of the middle and lower sections of the hockey nations and warned about Belarus. Team USA should have listened because in today’s game they got outplayed in the second period. At the same time, home nation Czech Republic beat France 5-1 and superstar veteran player Jaromir Jagr scored again.

USA 2-5 Belarus

After a goalless first period, Belarus exploded in the second period. They scored three straight goals in five minutes. USA got an important equalizer shortly before the second break but Alexej Kalyuzhny did Belaru’s fourth goal about a minute into the last period. He also scored their fifth and last goal shortly after USA:s second goal. This takes Belarus up to the top of group B.

Czech Republic 5-1 France

Czech Republic dominated against France and outshot them by 46-20. After a goal less first period Ondrej Nemec scored the first goal 1:15 into the second period and five minutes later Vladimir Sobotka scored the second. France got a goal in the period but in the third act Jaromir Jagr stepped up and scored 3-1. Nemec did his second goal of the game and assisted to Roman Cervenkas 5-1 goal. The victory means that Czech Republic has a firm grip of the fourth place in group A.

Ice Hockey World Championships 2015: Tight games in the bottom of the groups

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Tre Kronor2

The national championships of ice-hockey are more open now than in the 1980’s and often nations considered smaller can grab a win against the established hockey nations. Sweden, for example, has a history of underestimation of the opponents. For example, in the 1992 World Championships in Prague, they won the gold in a tournament where they played 0-0 against Italy in the group stage. In the 2002 Olympics a star filled Swedish national team who had outplayed their opponents in the group stage, including Team Canada, fell against Belarus in the quarter finals. The later is considered to be one of the worst happenings in the history of Swedish sports. It would be an event hard to forget if it weren’t for the 2006 double gold medals in the Olympics and World Championships, under coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson. Nonetheless, the two groups in the 2015 World Championships are beginning to sort the top from the bottom and many of yesterdays games were between the bottom teams.

Switzerland 1-0 Germany

This game was as tight as they come where both goalies received 18 shots. Leonardo Genoni in the Swiss goal saved one more than his German colleague Timo Pielmeier. 12:16 into the third period Denis Hollenstein scored the only goal of the game. Switzerland is now on a play off spot in the group while Germany is just below, in fifth place. Switzerland will face Latvia, who are last in group A, in the next game.

Belarus ran over Denmark

Belarus are often underestimated, both by other teams, but also when it comes to odds. For example, you can get 3x the stake if you place a bet on them against Norway in the last round (Betsafe). That is especially good odds thinking of many of the players in Belarus come from the Russian school of hockey. They gave Sweden a good game in the quarter finals in last year’s World Championships in Minsk and yesterday they beat Denmark 5-1. Although Denmark did a good first period, taking a 1-0 lead, Belarus put the pedal in the metal in the second period and scored three straight goals. That was followed up with two more goals in the third period. Yevgeni Kovyrshin scored two of the goals and Belarus climbs up to third place in group B while Denmark has one point so far, giving them a sixth place before Slovenia and their nordic neighbours Norway.

Huet shutout Austria

We put French goalkeeper Cristobal Huet on our list of 10 stars of the 2015 World Championships and in this years tournament he got his first shutout with the national team. Damien Fleury scored 1-0 to France in the third period which became the decisive goal. 2-0 came in open net. Important points for France who has a sixth place in the group while Austria is in seventh place with 2 points. Latvia is in the last spot of the group with 0 points, however they have played against both Canada and Sweden and have som potential easier opponents left to face.

Slovakia 3-1 Slovenia

In the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia, Slovenia beat Slovakia 3-1. Anze Kopitar scored one goal in the game. They almost followed up with another game in this years World Championships, taking the 1-0 lead in the first period. However, Slovakia came back strong in the third period. The teams scoring leader, Andrej Meszaros, tied the game where after superstar Marian Gaborik scored twice. Slovakia is now in second place in group B and Slovenia is in seventh place with no points. Norway is in the last place in the group, also with 0 points, but with worse scoring difference. Slovakia will face Norway in the next game.