photo: Micheline Veluvolu/IIHF
The Swedes followed a 10-3 win over Switzerland on Wednesday with another large-margin victory tonight, this time 9-4 over Germany in the only game in Frisco today.
It was a pad-the-stats kind of day as the Swedes found the back of the net with regularity to improve their Group B record to 2-0. The loss leaves Germany with a 0-1-0-1 record after their stunning 4-3 overtime win over Czechia yesterday.
Some 15 of 19 Swedish skaters recorded at least a point, led by Filip Ekberg, whose three assists gives him eight points for the tournament lead. Viggo Bjorck and Jakob Ihs Wozniak each had two goals.
Sweden has now started its tournament by scoring 19 goals in its first two games, their most ever. They had 15 in both 2012 and 2013.
"We know we have a ton of skill offensively," said defender Sascha Boumedienne, who is second in tournament scoring with seven points. "I'm proud of our guys. I know we've had some high scores but we haven't stopped playing. We've stayed disciplined."
Sweden is right back at it tomorrow in a marquee matchup against the hosts Americans. The Germans have a day off before facing Switzerland on Sunday.
"It all comes down to details," Boumedienne said of the game that will likely decide first place in the group. "They also have a lot of skilled guys. We just have to make our passes tape-to-tape, make hard plays out of the d-zone, and get the puck deep. We have to keep it simple, even though we have all that skill."
"It's hard," said German forward David Lewandowski. "It's back-to-back games against two great nations. We tried our best, but we lost. We had fewer turnovers yesterday and played a simpler game. We tried to be a bit fancier today and ended up making more mistakes. That cost us the game."
It didn’t take long for Sweden to tickle the twine with the fresh ice from the game’s start. Ihs Wozniak danced around Niclas Hempel before firing a shot past Bartholomaus Oswald at 5:23. The Swedes continued to pepper Oswald with shots but couldn’t get another until eight minutes later, on a power play.
Ivar Stenberg converted a nice pass from Viktor Klingsell. This was all the scoring in the first despite a 24-2 shots advantage, a clear reflection of Sweden’s dominance and Oswald’s ability to keep the Germans in the game.
But the gates opened in the second to deleterious effect for Germany. Ihs Wozniak got his second at 2:16 after another turnover, and 22 seconds later it was 4-0 with a Milton Gastrin goal on the power play. Just 57 seconds later, Bjorck flew around Felix Kruger, who had a tough game for Germany, making it three goals in 85 seconds.
Germany made it 5-1 less than a minute later on a power play and delayed penalty, Maxim Schafer banging the puck in from close range. Sweden coach Thomas Paananen challenged the play for goalie interference, and was overruled. Germany converted again on the ensuing power play, Dustin Willhoft the goalscorer.
These goals and the penalties cooled Sweden’s jets for several minutes, but soon enough they were back at it, scoring three more in the second half of the period. Theo Stockselius got one off an Ekberg pass, and 17 seconds later Morgan Anderberg made it 7-2. Klingsell added another later in the period on another power play.
German coach Patrick Reimer put Aaron Kaiser in goal to start the third, and just 16 seconds later Kaiser surrendered his first goal, to Bjorck, after a pass from Eric Nilson in the corner.
Germany notched their third at 8:12 just after a Sweden penalty had expired, Moritz Warnecke's long shot fooling Mans Goos in the Sweden goal. Elias Schneider closed out the scoring with another power-play goal for the Germans at 18:35.
It was a pad-the-stats kind of day as the Swedes found the back of the net with regularity to improve their Group B record to 2-0. The loss leaves Germany with a 0-1-0-1 record after their stunning 4-3 overtime win over Czechia yesterday.
Some 15 of 19 Swedish skaters recorded at least a point, led by Filip Ekberg, whose three assists gives him eight points for the tournament lead. Viggo Bjorck and Jakob Ihs Wozniak each had two goals.
Sweden has now started its tournament by scoring 19 goals in its first two games, their most ever. They had 15 in both 2012 and 2013.
"We know we have a ton of skill offensively," said defender Sascha Boumedienne, who is second in tournament scoring with seven points. "I'm proud of our guys. I know we've had some high scores but we haven't stopped playing. We've stayed disciplined."
Sweden is right back at it tomorrow in a marquee matchup against the hosts Americans. The Germans have a day off before facing Switzerland on Sunday.
"It all comes down to details," Boumedienne said of the game that will likely decide first place in the group. "They also have a lot of skilled guys. We just have to make our passes tape-to-tape, make hard plays out of the d-zone, and get the puck deep. We have to keep it simple, even though we have all that skill."
"It's hard," said German forward David Lewandowski. "It's back-to-back games against two great nations. We tried our best, but we lost. We had fewer turnovers yesterday and played a simpler game. We tried to be a bit fancier today and ended up making more mistakes. That cost us the game."
It didn’t take long for Sweden to tickle the twine with the fresh ice from the game’s start. Ihs Wozniak danced around Niclas Hempel before firing a shot past Bartholomaus Oswald at 5:23. The Swedes continued to pepper Oswald with shots but couldn’t get another until eight minutes later, on a power play.
Ivar Stenberg converted a nice pass from Viktor Klingsell. This was all the scoring in the first despite a 24-2 shots advantage, a clear reflection of Sweden’s dominance and Oswald’s ability to keep the Germans in the game.
But the gates opened in the second to deleterious effect for Germany. Ihs Wozniak got his second at 2:16 after another turnover, and 22 seconds later it was 4-0 with a Milton Gastrin goal on the power play. Just 57 seconds later, Bjorck flew around Felix Kruger, who had a tough game for Germany, making it three goals in 85 seconds.
Germany made it 5-1 less than a minute later on a power play and delayed penalty, Maxim Schafer banging the puck in from close range. Sweden coach Thomas Paananen challenged the play for goalie interference, and was overruled. Germany converted again on the ensuing power play, Dustin Willhoft the goalscorer.
These goals and the penalties cooled Sweden’s jets for several minutes, but soon enough they were back at it, scoring three more in the second half of the period. Theo Stockselius got one off an Ekberg pass, and 17 seconds later Morgan Anderberg made it 7-2. Klingsell added another later in the period on another power play.
German coach Patrick Reimer put Aaron Kaiser in goal to start the third, and just 16 seconds later Kaiser surrendered his first goal, to Bjorck, after a pass from Eric Nilson in the corner.
Germany notched their third at 8:12 just after a Sweden penalty had expired, Moritz Warnecke's long shot fooling Mans Goos in the Sweden goal. Elias Schneider closed out the scoring with another power-play goal for the Germans at 18:35.
Germany vs Sweden - 2025 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship
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