Sweden will go for the revanche

11 May 2011 | David Schlegel

In the 2nd quarterfinals of the World championship Sweden beat Germany 5-2. The Swedes dominated mainly in the 2nd period where they build the crucial three goals advantage. Sweden advanced to the 10th straight semifinals at the World championships.

Sweden took a lucky lead at 0:33, when Thörnberg took a shot which would go wide, but one of the German defenceman deflected it into the own net. Endras had no chance. Germany fought hard to come back and it took them only minute and a half to tie the game. Barta received a pass on the blue line, made a few steps and took a high shot from the left circle.

Germany played very well in the first period and outshot Sweden 18-14. However, it was Team Tre kronor who regained the lead when Berglund scored from between the circles. Just a few minutes earlier, Tedenby hit the post.

The first half of the second period moved the game decisively to the Swedish side. Nilsson and Persson went 2-on-1 and Nilsson luckily - and party unintentionally - got the puck behind Endras. Then Eriksson rebounded into the net the shot taken by Rundblad.

The Germans worked hard, but could not capitalize the few chances they created. Rankel hit the post and then Germans could not score in power-play 5-on-3. They finally scored in the 39th minute, when Wolf rebounded Rankel`s shot, but since that, Swedish players started to play much more cautiously in the defence.

Michael Wolf and Viktor Fasth named best players
Photo: Roman Kucera

Sweden scored again in the 44th minute, but the goal was disallowed because it came after the whistle. In the 49th minute Thörnberg made it 5-2 and the game was definitely over. "I am very happy about our victory. We knew Germany play with such intense. We played very well in defense and did not have many giveaways. We definitely need to improve in power-plays," said Pär Mårts, the head coach of the team Sweden.

"We faced a lot of speed from Sweden. We prepared many chances, but in critical situations it was Sweden which capitalized them. We never gave up and it was a good tournament for us," added Uwe Krupp, the German coach.

Sweden will play the Czech Republic in the semi final. It can be a revanche for the last year, when the Czechs beat Sweden in penalty shoot-out in the semi final game, after tying the game 8 seconds before the end of regulation.