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