photo: Micheline Veluvolu/IIHF
Sweden raced out to a 3-0 lead this afternoon in Frisco and skated to a convincing 7-3 win over Czechia in Group B action.
The win secures second place for the Swedes and sets up a quarter-finals date with Finland on Wednesday afternoon. The Czechs will finish fourth and will play Canada in another QF game in two days’ time.
Filip Ekberg had two goals and two assists, and he now leads the tournament with 13 points. Teammate Sascha Boumedienne had four assists and now leads all skaters with eleven assists.
"I knew we could score a lot of goals," said captian Milton Gastrin, "but I didn't think we could score seven against Czechia in an important game. We got little comfortable with a 3-0 lead, but then they scored two, and we told ourselves we need to make a push, and we did. It's nice to have a lot of goalscorers and guys who can shoot. Going into the playoffs, it's good to know we have offence."
Sweden has now scored 29 goals in four game to lead all countries, and four of the top eleven scorers are Swedish.
"They scored the goals, and we didn't," said Czechia's captain, Tomas Poletin. "It was a good game from us, but we didn't score when we had the chances. We pushed and came back, but it wasn't enough. Now we have to prepare for the quarter-finals, which is the most important game. Hopefully we'll have a great game and win. We have to play like a team."
The Swedes wasted no time in opening the scoring on a nice passing play by Viggo Bjorck to Ekberg. His sixth goal made it 1-0 at 4:05. Two and a half minutes later, they made it 2-0 when Viktor Klingsell’s high shot beat Michal Orsulak.
And at 8:45 it was 3-0 on an Ekberg power-play goal off a rebound. This prompted Czech coach David Cermak to make a change in the crease, sending on Frantisek Poletin, Tomas's brother, for Orsulak.
The Czechs got one back before the end of the period. Matej Mikes got the puck to the side of the net and found Artur Matejovsky to the back side. He made no mistake with the tap-in. The Czechs had a power play soon after and missed drawing closer by a whisker when Radim Mrtka’s point shot hit the post and drifted into the corner.
The Czechs had two great chances early in the second, but both fell by the wayside. Matej Pekar created some space for himself but missed the net, and then Poletin had a chance from in front, but Mans Goos was right there to make the save. Midway through the period, though, they struck. Vit Zahejsky smacked it in from the back side to make it 3-2, and second place now seemed possible.
Sweden, however, turned it up a notch again and scored twice to put the game out of reach. Eric Nilson found a loose puck in front and snapped a shot over Poletin’s shoulder at 11:59. Then, with only 1:50 remaining, Jakob Ihs Wozniak took a nice pass from Anton Frondell behind the net and made no mistake.
The Czechs extended their lead just 30 seconds into the final period when Ivar Stenberg got the puck in front to Frondell. He took a moment and lifted the puck over Poletin. But the Czechs came back three minutes later. Poletin converted a loose puck in close to make it 6-3.
Stenberg added a goal of his own at 12:45 when his high wrist shot form the point went all the way on the power play. It was the team's third PPG of the game and tournament-leading tenth overall.
The win secures second place for the Swedes and sets up a quarter-finals date with Finland on Wednesday afternoon. The Czechs will finish fourth and will play Canada in another QF game in two days’ time.
Filip Ekberg had two goals and two assists, and he now leads the tournament with 13 points. Teammate Sascha Boumedienne had four assists and now leads all skaters with eleven assists.
"I knew we could score a lot of goals," said captian Milton Gastrin, "but I didn't think we could score seven against Czechia in an important game. We got little comfortable with a 3-0 lead, but then they scored two, and we told ourselves we need to make a push, and we did. It's nice to have a lot of goalscorers and guys who can shoot. Going into the playoffs, it's good to know we have offence."
Sweden has now scored 29 goals in four game to lead all countries, and four of the top eleven scorers are Swedish.
"They scored the goals, and we didn't," said Czechia's captain, Tomas Poletin. "It was a good game from us, but we didn't score when we had the chances. We pushed and came back, but it wasn't enough. Now we have to prepare for the quarter-finals, which is the most important game. Hopefully we'll have a great game and win. We have to play like a team."
The Swedes wasted no time in opening the scoring on a nice passing play by Viggo Bjorck to Ekberg. His sixth goal made it 1-0 at 4:05. Two and a half minutes later, they made it 2-0 when Viktor Klingsell’s high shot beat Michal Orsulak.
And at 8:45 it was 3-0 on an Ekberg power-play goal off a rebound. This prompted Czech coach David Cermak to make a change in the crease, sending on Frantisek Poletin, Tomas's brother, for Orsulak.
The Czechs got one back before the end of the period. Matej Mikes got the puck to the side of the net and found Artur Matejovsky to the back side. He made no mistake with the tap-in. The Czechs had a power play soon after and missed drawing closer by a whisker when Radim Mrtka’s point shot hit the post and drifted into the corner.
The Czechs had two great chances early in the second, but both fell by the wayside. Matej Pekar created some space for himself but missed the net, and then Poletin had a chance from in front, but Mans Goos was right there to make the save. Midway through the period, though, they struck. Vit Zahejsky smacked it in from the back side to make it 3-2, and second place now seemed possible.
Sweden, however, turned it up a notch again and scored twice to put the game out of reach. Eric Nilson found a loose puck in front and snapped a shot over Poletin’s shoulder at 11:59. Then, with only 1:50 remaining, Jakob Ihs Wozniak took a nice pass from Anton Frondell behind the net and made no mistake.
The Czechs extended their lead just 30 seconds into the final period when Ivar Stenberg got the puck in front to Frondell. He took a moment and lifted the puck over Poletin. But the Czechs came back three minutes later. Poletin converted a loose puck in close to make it 6-3.
Stenberg added a goal of his own at 12:45 when his high wrist shot form the point went all the way on the power play. It was the team's third PPG of the game and tournament-leading tenth overall.
Sweden vs Czechia - 2025 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship
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