Canada’s Semi-Final Hopes Still Alive After Defeating Sweden

Canada's hopes to stay alive at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup are still alive after beating Sweden 4-1 on Wednesday.

In a rare circumstance for Canada at this tournament, the team was facing elimination before the semi-finals even got underway. In this case, Canada had just two points heading into the final round robin game, coming in a close overtime victory over Slovakia. With their late game loss yesterday to Russia, Canada needed to win on Wednesday and have Russia lose against the Slovaks later in the day.

For Canada, they looked good right away. At the four minute mark, Elijah Roberts made a tremendous play to skate around multiple Swedish defenders while barely keeping his balance, only to pass it out in front. Shane Bowers was in a terrific position to bang home the pass, giving Canada the 1-0 lead early in the game.

Their lead would not stay perfect. With 3:25 left in the first, Erik Brannstrom fired a bullet from the point during Sweden's 5-on-3 power play to tie the game up at one. It was another of Canada's long line of penalty issues, the same problem that led to their late-game collapse to Russia on Tuesday.

Canada would finish off the period with a two-goal advantage with two plays that will steal the highlight reels. At 18:05, Maxime Comtois exploited a hole in the Swedish defense and skated in all alone, finishing off a nice shorthanded breakaway goal to make it 2-1. Then, a full minute later, Comtois scored a nearly identical goal on the 5-on-3 PK, cementing his place as Canada's best player in the tournament so far.

The second period saw no scoring, but the third saw Canada find the back of the net for the fourth time. This time, Michael Rasmussen did a good job of beating out a rush to steal the puck behind the Swedish net. Rasmussen then sent a nice pass in front to Matthew Strome, who fired the shot low glove side for the 4-1 goal, a lead they would not relinquish this time.

Canada now needs Slovakia to defeat Russia later today to keep Canada's hopes alive, as Russia has the tie-breaker over Canada due to their victory on Tuesday. It won't be an easy task for the Slovaks, who are trying to end a 29-game winless drought at the tournament they co-host. Puck drop is set for 11:30 AM ET, with the semi-finals to take place on Friday.

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