Teams love to talk about quick starts in tournaments. In Agoy, Sweden started at the speed of light. Five goals on seven shots at 13:28 of the first period unequivocally declared that the defending champions were back in action.
“Canada is a good team, but we came out strong early in the game,” said Swedish defender Theo Lindstein. “We scored good goals and after the first two goals we continued. »
Not impressive was an established powerhouse that the newly promoted underdog could boast of. Sweden did that damage to Canada, and it’s a slate heavily tilted to fight for the medal here. The final score of 8-0 defied the competition here in Switzerland, while a miserable Canadian afternoon was made worse by two players being sent off for poor play.
Tre Kronor rushed into the attack in the first encounter and wasted no time in taking the lead. In the fourth minute, Otto Steinberg scored the first goal in this year’s tournament. The Sweden captain, who had come back in search of a second gold medal, broke the deadlock thanks to a tip from Tom Wilander.
Open this door wide. Eighty seconds later, the Canadian clap was intercepted by Axel Sanden-Belica at the point and Noel Nord redirected his shot past Carson Bjarnasson. The third came when Noah Dower curled Nelson’s shot and then Sandin Bilica continued to hone his chances with an unstoppable shot. The moment Anton Wahlberg exchanged passes with Zep Forcevial to make it 5-0, there was an air of disbelief in the arena.
Sandin Bilica put in a great performance, scoring one goal and four assists. This did not surprise his defensive partner Lindstein. “He’s a great player and I love playing with him,” said the Swedish substitute captain. “He is easy to play with and he does a good job in every game.”
Canada responded by substituting the unlucky Bjarnason for Gabriel Diggle and at least managed to stem the flurry of goals in the second half of the first quarter. However, it was clear that MacLean Ciberini, who was expected to be an offensive powerhouse in this tournament, was seen more often in defensive duties. In the second half, he was also sent off the front row, playing alongside Colby Barlow and Andrew Crystal.
The middle frame brought an extra Swedish target – Forsfjall hit home a hard play mark from the top of the circle as Wahlberg checked D’Aigle. Later in the session, he also caused more problems for Canada when Porter Marton was ejected from the game for boarding after a video review.
This power play turned into a two-player advantage early in the third. Stenberg took his second possession of the game, taking advantage of the extra space to throw the ball into the net between the hash marks.
Canada hadn’t lost by seven in this tournament since the 2016 bronze medal game and went looking for a consolation effort. Cam Allen hit Iron midway through the last frame, but his side took another hit when Caden Bryce followed Marton into the locker room early after an elbow. Another long power play saw Felix Unger Sorum make it 8-0 to complete the rout. Noah Erliden celebrated his debut at this level by stopping him for the first time after stopping 30 rounds.
