Swedes show power at home

Sweden made a solid performance against a Czech team that was much weaker than expected. Despite icing several World Champions the Czechs were never close to getting any points of this game. For Sweden it was a shame that the Ericsson Globe was only half full with 6 613 spectators when Tre Kronor made such a solid performance on home ice.

The first period started intense and with a high tempo with scoring chances at both ends. Both Stefan Liv and Jakub Stepanek wers forced to make some good saves. The first goal would come on the on the only power play of the first period. Even if the penalty was a bit hard it was a stupid penalty by Lukas Kaspar in offensive zone. 13 seconds later Sweden took the lead when Niklas Persson deflected Magnus Johansson's blueline shot into the goal after a nice pass from Joakim Lindström to Johansson.

After the goal Sweden took over completly for a couple of minutes with several great chances. Björn Melin and Mattias Sjögren had the best chances with Sjögren's shot hitting the post and Sweden easily went through the neutral zone to put pressure on the Czech net. But in the middle of the Swedish momentum the Czechs did what they do best, counter attack. Petr Prucha was fed a great pass by Cervenka and finished high behind Liv when Rickard Wallin lost the marking on him. After the goal the momentum turned again and Czechs had som chances. But Sweden would take the lead again. This time Stepanek made a mistake when the shot from David Petrasek bounced over him.

If the first period was entertaining and high tempo the second one was more sleepy. But Sweden was in full control of the game and made both 3-1 and 4-1. The Swedish third goal was scored shorthanded, even with one man short Sweden did some good fore checking and Rikard Wallin forced the Petr Caslava to a mistake in their own zone, Wallin passed the puck to Dick Axelsson who did no mistake all alone in front of Stepanek. "The third goal, which we conceded in our power-play, decides the game, Petr Caslava made a big error when he gave away the puck and we were struggling from that moment", the Czech head coach Alois Hadamczik said after the game.


The goal scorer Dick Axelsson said "Very good work by Rickard who found me in front of net and I could finish with my favourite deke"

On the fourth goal Stepanek was left and made several saves before Mathias Tjärnqvist scored on the empty goal when Stepanek lost his position. And if it wasn't enough for the Czechs one of the best players Petr Koukal left the ice bleeding from the face. Koukal would however return to the game in the third period.

Only 13 seconds into the third period the game was completly over when Niklas Nordgren made it 5-1. Shortly after the goal Milan Gulas was sent of with a 5+20 game misconduct for spearing. Despite the four goal deficit the Czechs made a good job defending themself during the five minutes and Sweden didn't manage to extend their lead. The rest of the game was mostly a long wait for the final buzzer even if the Czechs had two shots in the post and Sweden added a sixth goal at 56:12. Jonas Andersson was the goal scorer while Dick Axelsson made this third point with the assist.

"It was my best international game", Axelsson said after the game. "It was a fun game with high speed and it always fun to score". "We made them bad", he added about the Czech performance.

Sweden's head coach Per Mårts was pleased after the game. "I like what I saw today, initiative, creativeness, dedication and full speed", he said. "We have worked a lot with those things".

While Mårts were pleased Hadamczic were disappointed "Swedes were better at checking, were better skaters and show more passion for the win. We couldn't keep pace with them, so we should concentrate on this a hopefully we'll be a better team next time", he commented on the loss.


Czech Republic - Sweden 1-6
0-1 (5:42) Niklas Persson (Magnus Johansson, Joakim Lindström) PP
1-1 (9:41) Petr Prucha (Roman Cervenka, Tomas Mojzis)
1-2 (18:22) David Petrasek (Dick Axelsson, Jonas Andersson)
1-3 (29:51) Dick Axelsson (Rickard Wallin) SH
1-4 (35:20) Mathias Tjärnqvist (Magnus Johansson, Jimmie Ericsson)
1-5 (40:13) Niklas Nordgren (Niklas Persson, Magnus Johansson)
1-6 (56:12) Dick Axelsson (Jonas Andersson)

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey