Canada Finishes Olympic Pre-Tournament With Rough Win Over Sweden

Canada's men's hockey team have finished their pre-Olympic tournament schedule with a 4-1 victory over Sweden in Incheon, South Korea on Monday afternoon. 

Sweden looked good out of the gate, scoring the game's first goal at 12:28 in the contest. Dick Axelsson scored on a rocket of a shot after a pass from Fredrik Pettersson, finding a way to beat Canadian starting goalie Ben Scrivens early in the game to give Tre Kronor the lead.

But three straight goals by Canada meant Sweden's chances at ending the pre-tournament with a game were becoming slimmer and slimmer. At 17:18 on the power play, just seconds after allowing a shorthanded opportunity to the Swedes at the other end, Mat Robinson would beat Jhonas Enroth short side after a feed from Mason Raymond found its way towards the net, knotting the battle up at one to end the first period.

A pair of Canadian goals changed the course of the game. A bad Swedish giveaway at 7:45 resulted in a breakaway opportunity for Christian Thomas, who made no mistake getting the puck past Enroth to make it 2-1. Then, at 12:41, Derek Roy forced a giveaway before Chris Lee sent the puck to Rene Bourque, with Bourque scoring a big goal after failing to record one in five games with Canada in exhibition contests prior to the tournament, putting Canada up by two.

The game was rough from start to finish, with the previous two Olympic championship-winning nations (Sweden in 2006, Canada in 2002, 2010, 2014) going toe-to-toe with some big hits. The most memorable was a large hit by Bourque on Carl Klingberg, a hit that resulted in a bit of skirmish after the play.

At 5:08 in the third, Canada added to their advantage. Wojtek Wolski would be man credited with the goal, with the Polish Canadian taking advantage of yet another giveaway by the Swedes to make it 4-1 after tipping in Linden Vey's point shot that bounced on the way towards the net. It was enough to fully take the wind out of the Swedes, who would drop the game 4-1 on Monday afternoon in South Korea.

Both teams will turn their focus towards the 2018 Olympic tournament with Sweden beginning their hunt for gold against Norway at 16:40 local time on February 15th. Canada will play later that day, taking on Switzerland to begin Group A.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Tweets by @eurohockey