Friday, April 15, 2011

U18s Day 2: Swedes, USA roll on

Press Release

It was a rough go for Slovakia and Norway, who fell to the Americans and Swedes by a combined score of 18-3. Mika Zibanejad starred for Sweden, while eight different players lit the lamp for the U.S.

Sweden vs. Norway 10-2 (1-1, 3-0, 6-1)

DRESDEN – Day 2 began with a battle between the Scandinavian nations Sweden and Norway. The familiarity between these two teams was apparent early on, as lots of pushing and shoving went on between whistles.

Norwegian goalie Steffen Soberg, who was one of the bright spots in Norway’s opening game loss to Finland, quickly became the focus of the Swedish attackers, who routinely tried to swarm the area around his net and break his field of vision. However, with the help of his teammates Soberg was able to see the puck well and frustrate Sweden’s offence early on.

As the period wore on however, it was clear the Swedes were enjoying the lion’s share of puck possession, as the Norwegian goaltender was forced to make 25 saves in the period. His efforts were eventually rewarded by his teammate Jonas Knutsen, who fired a laser shot past Lundstrom with less than three minutes to go in the period.

Norway’s celebration was quickly silenced though, as Sweden’s Filip Forsberg won the ensuing faceoff, skated past the entire Norwegian team, fired the puck at Soberg and got his own rebound to tie the game up.

The Swedes then opened the floodgates in the 2nd, courtesy of some great play from one of their highly touted young forwards. Shortly after the start of the period, Mika Zibanejad was cruising along the Norwegian blue line and received a long pass from Oscar Klefbom right on the tape of his stick. Zibanejad then split the defence and calmly lifted the puck past Soberg’s glove for the score.

Zibanejad, who just finished his first pro season with Djurgarden in the Elitserien, would later fire home another goal in front of the net to put Sweden up 3-1. He didn’t stop there, shooting the puck at Soberg, getting his own rebound and skating around the net to find teammate Jeremy Boyce Rotevall in front for another score.

Though Norway’s Soberg did his best to keep his team in the game, the Norwegian offense simply could not keep the puck in the Swedish zone, and by the end of the second period the shots on goal were 49-12 in favour of Tre Kronor. For his part, Zibanejad added another goal for the hat trick, and his teammates put up five more in the third period to seal the 10-2 rout.

USA vs. Slovakia 8-1 (2-0, 4-0, 2-1)

CRIMMITSCHAU – After surviving an opening game scare against Switzerland, the U.S. sought to turn up their game in their second match of the tournament, this time going against Slovakia. The game started out a bit sloppy in the first period, with eight penalties being called between the two teams.

On the other end, the Americans were able to take advantage of their power plays, when forward Rocco Grimaldi scored the first goal eleven minutes in, with JT Miller and Seth Jones on the assists. Just before the end of the period, defenceman Connor Murphy found the back of the net on another power play to put the U.S. up by two.

The Slovaks could not find an answer for Team USA’s physical play, and their offence was only able to muster sixteen shots through the first two periods. Much of the reason for this was due to the fact that for the second game in a row the Slovaks had trouble staying out of the penalty box.

For the United States, three more power play goals by Robbie Russo, Reid Boucher, Connor Reid, and a shorthanded marker by Travis Boyd put the game on cruise control for the Americans at the end of the second period.

Slovakia scored a goal in the third period to avoid the shutout, but the 8-1 final score dropped them to 0-2 for the tournament. The Americans now have a day to rest up before their important game against the Russians in Crimmitschau on Sunday, while the Slovaks will try for their first win of the tournament against Switzerland.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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