Two tough matches and no medal

Unfortunately I was wrong and the Swedes did not get a medal in this World Cup. Though the match with the Czechs was a great one, they still lost. They followed that with a bad loss to Russian and the whole thing leaves a bad taste in ones mouth. Not that the Swedes played poorly, they didn't, just that after the win against Canada I thought they had achange to compete for a gold medal. Not this year, we will have to settle for fourth. But season tickets to next years Eliteserien are on sale!

Sweden vs Switzerland

A tight match, like all the others in the quarterfinals. But this one was probably not as close as the others. While Switzerland played well, they were no match for the Swedes. In the seond period the Swedes were swarming, keeping the puck in the Swiss zone, the Swiss couldn't even ice it. A sweet goal high on Gerber put the Swedes ahead for good but there were some close calls for the Swiss which could have made the game reflect the Swedish dominance. They really handle the puck well and pass well too, the Swedes. Their goaltending was brilliant again - notice only one goal allowed by Sweden versus the four allowed by Canada and two allowed by the Czech Republic.

My predictions were on target, so I am going to make some more.

Russia vs Canada - Winner: Russia
Czech Republic vs Sweden - Winner: Sweden

Canada will find the Russians hard to handle, though if the Russians do not play some defense Canada can out shoot them, could be a goal fest. The Czechs have not impressed me, though I have to confess I have not seen much of them recently. No Hacek though, and Jagr is not the player he once was. The Swedes are disciplined, but lethal, so when the inevitable mistake comes, Sweden can capitalize. If Sweden scores first they will win, if they score three goals they will win. But if the Czechs get on the board first or if they manage to put more than one or two past Lundqvist, trouble.

World Cup Quarterfinals set

Here are the match-ups for the quarter finals! Interesting matches overall, especially the Czechs vs. USA. I think this will be tough for the Americans, the Czechs are really good, and they play a stifling defensive game which is not so fun to watch, but they win.

Canada-Slovakia
Czech Republic-USA
Sweden-Switzerland
Russia-Finland

My predictions -

Canada beats Solvakia
Czech Republic beats USA (barely)
Sweden beats Switzerland
Russia beats Finland

But no one should think they have it easy. Even the Swedes know that the Swiss are dangerous, especially Martin Pluss, and have good goaltending. Some good hockey in store for us.

USA vs. Sweden

I was impressed by the Americans against Sweden, they played well. There was some very good goaltending on both sides, though Henrik Lundqvist from Sweden impressed me more, despite the loss. He faced tougher shots.

The Swedes were clearly not in the right mental state for the match. The US was pretty fresh and eager after a close match against Canada, they had speed as they ran through the zone and counter-attacked often. A brilliant assist from DiPietro was one of the highlights of the match, he is a very good goalie in the modern mode, almost a defenseman. The Swedes, in contrast, were slow-footed and tired looking. They had moments were the put some pressure in the American zone but then the puck would squeeze out and the Americans would race towards the Swedish goal for odd man rushes, often scoring. The score 5 - 1 for USA shows that the quality of play this tournament has improved. Firstly, the Swedes had not lost this badly to the Americans in some time, so clearly the Americans had a good team, not discounting the fatigue and mental distraction of the Swedish team.

Even teams like Denmark and Lithuania have show how they have improved with good young players. So the Swedes need to show some killer instinct and mental toughness as they go through the rest of the tournament. If they can be prepared mentally for every opponent I think they have a shot to win it all.

Three stars:

* Henrik Lundqvist
** Eric Cole
*** Rick DiPietro

Sweden vs. Denmark

Last night's match against Ukraine woke the Swedes up, they were much sharper tooday. They played with speed and went straight to the net instead of waiting for the perfect pass. Denmark has a good team, with some strong younger players. Their second line is called the baby line since it has three drafted youngsters. One of them, Regin, is going to play in Sweden next year and he is really promising. He gave Finland a hard time, he skates well and has excellent hockey vision.

The Swedes basically battered the Danes, not so much with heavy hitting but rather with lots of shots and nearly constant attack. The Danes could not get the puck out of their own zone. Their goalie played brilliantly, working really hard, he was exhausted by the third period and let in a couple of easy shots. Still, he played well and the whole Danish team did pretty well. I look forward to seeing who will win between Ukraine and Denmark, that should be a good game.

The match last night was good, but the score, 7-0, said it all; Denmark is not in Sweden's class.

Sweden vs. Ukraine

When Sweden plays a team like Ukraine you expect them to win easily. Sweden is one of the heavyweights of the hockey world and Ukraine is not really seasoned, not yet consistently successful in international play. Yet the Swedes struggled tonight. They did not play well. They did not play simple hockey. Instead they held the puck to long and waited for the perfect situation to shoot. Ukraine's goalie was brilliant as well, facing many shots and lots of pressure. The Ukrainians countered well and managed to score twice, one of them was a "seeing eye" goal where the puck found its way in as opposed to good offense, but those count. When you throw the puck at the net, it sometimes goes in, the Swedes should do more of that.

They received no cheap goals, rather they relied on talented players. Another outstanding night in goal for Henrik Lundqvist; he faced some tough odd-man rushes as the Swedish defense pinched in to try and score.

A brilliant play by Magnus Kahnberg started Sweden's scoring. He faked the Ukrainian goalie to the ice on a wraparound and then backhanded the puck in after he slid thourgh the crease. Impressive. He is a young talented star who can go far in the NHL if it ever gets going again. He also displays the kind of toughness necessary to compete against bigger players. He has speed, excellent puck handling, is a very good passer, and likes to mix it up.

But the night was saved by Daniel Alfredsson who banged the puck in from an excellent pass into the slot. That was simple hockey, a close in hard shot on the glove side that the goalie had no chance on. When the Swedes get back to playing that kind of game, look out.