Sweden wins forced match: “Shows character”

Within 24 hours of the huge loss against the Czech Republic, Trey Kroner had to deliver.

Admittedly, against a low-quality Britain, but emotionally, the loss – and the way it came about – had a huge impact on the Swedes.

– Of course it was a tough loss, we would have been in a better seat if we had won yesterday. But after the evening coffee, you start to make more progress, you can see that if we win the rest there is a good chance, then you recharge and start focusing on it, says Budas.

After a stumble in the first half of the match, Budas was also responsible for the ice break.

Taper goalkeeper

Seven minutes into the second period his 2-1 goal knocked the Swedes out. Prior to that, Great Britain took the lead through Liam Kirk, the debutant of the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, before Marcus Sorensen equalized in the power play.

Although the Swedish advantage was excellent throughout the match, it was only after the lead goal that Trey Kroner could create really hot goal chances with moving and direct play.

It ended in a 4-1 draw, thanks to goalkeeper Ben Bounce, who fought bravely for the English. Sweden had shots at 56-14 and the Bounce had 52 saves.

Mario Kempe became the two-goal scorer after adding 3-1 five minutes after Buda’s goal to make it 4-1 in the final.

– We made a great decision, and there was more traffic on target. We talked about it before, it’s easy to play around and not go into hard areas. I thought we had a good balance today, Kembe says.

Happy chain

National team captain Johann Karpenlev took Marcus Sorensen with the brothers Kempe, Adrian and Mario. Dennis Rasmussen was allowed to retire.

Newly enacted chain provided.

– Thought it would work well. Sorensen is very “weird” and is good at catching the buck and releasing it in the right positions. It also worked well with tennis. I really enjoyed playing with Adrian and “Soren” today, which Kembe says will withstand even the toughest opposition.

After the defeat against the Czech Republic, Sweden should have only matches in the World Cup. The first is not selected, the Swedes have a day off on Saturday before Slovakia (Sunday) and Russia (Monday) wait for the final.

Sweden did not have everything in their hands – but two more wins could have saved the team from defeat and missed the playoffs.

This has not happened since the World Cup in Prague in 1985, and has never happened since the current format was introduced in 1992 with eight teams per quarter.

– We’re still alive. Hope this is enough for driving and two more wins, Budas says.