Ivan Hlinka Memorial Day 3

12 Aug 2015Henrik Lundqvist»

Sweden beats Czech Republic to grab the last semi final spot.

Finland impressed a lot in this clear 3-0 win. Otto Mäkinen opened the scoring at 25:19 when he picked up a rebound to easily beat Maxim Kaliaev in the Russian net. 2-0 was a beauty as Janne Kuokkanen and Emil Oksanen combined to leave the Russian defense with no chance. Oskanen was last on the puck. Aapeli Rasanen behind the net found Eetu Tuulola who scored the third goal. Severi Isokangas saved 22 shots for the shutout. With the win Finland gets to stay in Bratislava to face Sweden in the semi final. Russia will play Canada.

Switzerland - Canada 2-9 (1-4, 1-2, 0-3)

Canada earns its third win and Switzerland suffered the third loss. It was no doubt which team was the stronger in this game. Tyson Jost scored three goals for Canada and was also named best player of the game. Canada finished on top of Group A and will play Russia in the semi final.

Slovakia - USA 3-7 (0-2, 1-2, 2-3)

The home team lost again - the third in a row. USA got a 4-0 lead but Slovakia scored three in a row to just get one behind at 55:21. Then USA scored another three in the final minutes to get the 7-3 win and qualify for the fifth place game against Czech Republic.

Czech Republic - Sweden 0-2 (0-0, 0-0, 0-2)

Much was at stake in the last game of the group stage. The winner would qualify for the semi finals whil the loser will have to play the 5th place game. It was scoreless for a long time but Sweden got two goals in the last period to get the win. Jesper Bratt scored 1-0 at 45:06 with a one-timer from the right circle. Oskar Lyrenäs Stål made at 2-0 on a breakaway a few minutes later. The Czechs got to play on the powerplay twice after the second Swedish goal but failed to beat Filip Gustavsson in the net.