Sweden defeats Slovakia 5-2
Sweden stayed a perfect 2-0 for this tournament with a 5-2 victory over Slovakia in the early game Thursday in Victoria. With the win, Team Sweden has a 46 game round-robin win streak, going back to the 2007 World Junior tournament.
Lucas Elvenes opened the scoring at 11:42 with a rocket over Slovak goalie Jural Sklenar’s shoulder. Slovakia pulled even on a powerplay goal by Adam Liska at 13:43 as it was his turn to put a shot over the goaltender’s shoulder. Emil Bemstrom pulled the Swedes ahead late in the first period banging home a rebound from scramble in front.
Action was back and forth before early in the second when Sweden’s potent powerplay got a chance to flex its muscle. Emil Bemstrom found the back of the net for his second on the game and gave Sweden the 3-1 lead. Slovakia had its chances with back-to-back powerplay chances but could not convert.
Sweden added a goal by captain Erik Brannstrom in the third to make it 4-1 for Sweden. Milos Fafrak responded for Slovakia to make it interesting and a 4-2 game with a bizarre own-goal from Sweden. Under pressure, the Swedish forward tried to feed the puck to the front of his net and it caught the his goalie’s skate and went in.
However Sweden sealed the game with goal from Isac Lundestrom with 7:23 left to finish the scoring with a 5-2 win for Sweden.
Next up for Sweden is a day off followed by a difficult matchup against Team USA on the 29th. “They have really good players,” said Sweden forward Lucas Elvenes post-game. “They want to win against us and it’s going to be a tight and tough game, but also very fun.”
WHL notables:
- Milos Roman (Vancouver) – 20:25 time on ice ; 26 shifts; –1
- Andrej Kukuca (Seattle) – 10:25 time on ice; 11 shifts; even
Finland defeats Kazakhstan 5-0
The start of the game saw Kazakhstan come out gaming, taking it to the favoured Finland team. The appreciative crowd in Victoria broke out an early chant for the underdogs. Finland seemed caught off guard by the persistent Kazakhstan team.
That theme continued as the story of David versus Goliath began off the shoulders of Kazakhstan goalie Demid Yeremeyev. His 51 save performance led to multiple standing ovations from the loud crowd of 5,863 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena. “It feels like home with all the support,” said Yeremeyev through a translator. “I didn’t expect it would happen in the first game. So thanks to the Canadian fans who supported us, it helped a lot.”
The first goal came to Finland after a series of nice saves by Yeremeyev. However the Finns maintained the pressure and Otto Latvala fired it over the shoulder of the goaltender for the goal.
Finland made it 2-0 as captain Aarne Talvitie took the puck in the high slot and rifled it home for his second of the tournament. Midway through the second, it became a 3-0 game as a Valtteri Puustinen shot rang off the post and went straight to Samuli Vainionpaa who then had the easy shot to beat the scrambling Kazakhs goalie.
In the third period, Finland stormed the net forcing Yeremeyev to make multiple saves. However, the Finns persistence paid off as highly-touted forward Kaapo Kakko tucked it home on a lovely wrap-around.
Shortly after, former Swift Current Bronco star Aleksi Heponiemi pounced on the puck after a scramble in front of net. When asked what it felt like to be playing again in Canada, Heponiemi said “It feels really good. It’s a great country and I like playing here. I like the smaller ice. The fans are great. It says something that two international teams can play and the arena is full.” Up next for Team Finland is a day of rest, followed by a matchup against team Slovakia. “It’s going to be a tough game for sure,” said Heponiemi. “I know they played really well against the U.S. and Sweden. It’s going to be good.”
WHL notables (all former WHL players who now play elsewhere):
- Henri Jokiharju (Chicago-NHL) – 1 assist; 19:01 time on ice; 4 shots on goal; +2
- Aleksi Heponiemi (Karpaat-Liiga) – 1 goal; 20:41 time on ice; 3 shots on goal; +2
- Sami Moilanen (Tappara-Liiga) – 12:44 time on ice; 2 shots on goal
