Swedish WJC Team Goes Forth And Comes Fourth

The Swedish WJC team is probably logging onto Google Play gambling there’s an app to help them get over bitter disappointment as their bronze medal game against the USA didn’t go to plan and they come home with very little to show for their efforts.

Sweden Find Fourth At WJC
• Hammer Slovakia in the quarterfinals
• Finland end their run in Semifinals
• Lose against US for in Bronze medal game

The Swedes had turned up in Helsinki for the World Junior Championships full of confidence and Rikard Gronborg and Robert Ohlsson had every reason to encourage those who like to bet on sports in Sweden to back their team, despite the injury to Sebastian Aho causing him to miss the tournament, and their first game in the group stage seemed to set the tone for the rest of their performance as they took on a Swiss team that should have been tougher opposition.

Their 8-3 defeat of Switzerland in the opening game buoyed the Swedish WJC team, but that suddenly seemed very misplaced when they were held to a very close game by the USA who they only just squeezed past with a 1-0 win, Nylander grabbing the second period goal that saved them from an overtime they might not have been able to hang on to. Perhaps it was the closeness of that game that motivated them to turn in such a stellar performance in their next match.

Regional rivals Denmark had been beaten by Canada a couple of days previously and so were just as hungry for the win, but they were no match for the unstoppable Swedes who simply outclassed them with goals from Kempe, Forsling, Lindblom and Lagesson with another for Nylander making five goals from the Swedish WJC team, a tally the Danes couldn’t even dent. That left just the Canadians between Sweden and a clean sweep in the group stage.

Regional Rivals Rue & Ruin

It was a far closer game than Sweden would have liked, only really managing to dominate in the second period, goals from Karlsson and Asplund helped along by more from Kempe, Forsling and Nylander, eased them into just a 5-2 win. The Swedish WJC team thus finished top of their group, unbeaten in the process, and were expected to play hard in their quarter final against Slovakia with many taking advantage of Swedish gambling laws to back them on ComeOn! Sportsbook.

Slovakia proved little opposition. They’d only finished fourth in group B and the winners of group A in the shape of the Swedish WJC team bulldozed them out of the way in a 6-0 drubbing that almost certainly left Slovakian coach Ernest Bokros with a few choice words to say to his players. On the sort of high a six goal win can give you in going into a semifinal the Swedes now faced long term regional rivals Finland, and the excitement was palpable. Who would come out on top?

Finland had only just crept by Canada in a 6-5 thriller in the quarterfinals, so the Swedish WJC team had every right to hope on a victory, but it wasn’t to be. In a hard fought game it was the Finns that edged ahead, coming back from being one-nil down in the first period to 2-1 up at the end of the second, hanging on to their slender leader throughout the third period of play. The Swedes were out of the final pair, beaten by a team, and country, that won’t let them soon forget it.

Swedish WJC Team Fails Against The Finns

Personally I won’t be gambling news of Finland’s eventual tournament victory will be of some comfort to the Swedish WJC team. Being knocked into the bronze medal game by the champions is still being beaten, and that bronze medal game turned out to be a game too far. It began well enough, first period both teams got a couple and seemed evenly matched, but in the middle period the USA (who had been beaten by Russia) slapped home four without reply.

If there were a chance of a comeback in the third period it didn’t materialize and the US cruised away with the win on the back of another two goals to the Swedish WJC team’s single in response. It was by no means their best performance, the loss against Finland having seem to leave them hollow, but their fourth place was by no means undeserved, and there are a lot of positives the side can take away from their performance with teams across the Atlantic already interested in some of the players.

The Swedish WJC team won’t be happy to have come away with so little, but once their chance of winning had been batted aside by Finland’s constant pressure, the spirit seemed to drift out of them and against the USA they were lackluster at best. With good performances throughout the tournament from William Lagesson and Andreas Englund Sweden’s future is by no means as dim as their fourth place suggests, but I wouldn’t mention it to them right this minute……