Czech Republic ruins the Swedish party

Sweden was expecting big things of the star filled national teams and as Sweden quite easily won in the preliminary round many Swedes expected a replay of that the game. But the Czech team improved a lot since that game and put up a great tactical disciplined effort to win the game.

"I congratulate the Czech team. They learned more from the previous game between us than we did", Sweden's coach Pär Mårts said. "It's hard to beat the same team twice. We were close but not close enough".

The game started a bit slow but Sweden took more and more control of it and at 7:12 Loui Eriksson gave Sweden the lead. Henrik Zettberg got his twelfth assist when passed Eriksson who skated in front of goal and put it in behind Jakub Kovar in the Czech goal. After the goal it felt like Sweden had control of the game and created some more chances.

But after some bad play in the own zone by Sweden, the Czechs got more of the puck possesion and after twelve minutes the veteran Petr Nedved tied the game after a nice play by Jakub Nakladal. And the Czechs also made it 2-1 when Jiri Novotny made another direct shot after more terrible Swedish play in their own zone. "We lose the puck in bad situations and then they're very good", Sweden's Henrik Zetterberg said after the game.

In the second period the Czechs could start playing the game they do best, defending and going on counter attacks against a team that gives away pucks. Michael Frolik had a great chance for 3-1 after a two on one (almost two on zero) counter attack  but Viktor Fasth made a fantastic save to keep Sweden in the game.

But 3-1 came halfway through the period, and perhaps the Czechs should thank the referees for that as the first penalty of the game was very dubious and Martin Erat a bit luckily scored on the power play. The Czechs had full control of the game after the goal but in the last minutes of the period Sweden finally created some chances and with 45 seconds left Henrik Zetterberg made a vital 2-3 goal with a great invidiual effort. A goal that meant that the Swedish players and their fans believe they could tie the game.

And 45 seconds seemed to be something special today as that was the time it took for Sweden to score for 3-3 in the beginning of the third. A goal that came out of nothing and went in off the post and gave Sweden and the fans even more energy. The goal was scored by Jonathan Ericsson who made his first game since the first, missing out due to injury.

"It feels a bit empty, I had been looking forward to play more", Ericsson said also adding that he didn't feel 100 % match fit.

The Czechs also continued to play well after the Swedish goal and the two teams exchanged chances. But it felt like it was the Czechs that had better and more chances but Viktor Fasth perhaps played his best game of the tournament and made several good saves.

But with 29 seconds left Fasth couldn't save the game winner. Milan Michalek stole the puck in the corner and skated in and scored high over Fasth's shoulder. A dramatic end to a thrilling game that could have been even more dramatic as Sweden had a chance to tie it at the dying seconds.

"I knew that he would go down and it went in and I'm really happy for it", the game winning goal scorer Michalek said about the goal. "We forechecked them and they made many mistakes. I don't think they expected us to play like that", he said about the tactics behind the win.

"It was up and down, a lot of chances. The goalies were awesome. It was a huge game", Czech forward Petr Tenkrat said. "They are better than us but we found a back way into the game even if we didn't play at our best we're very close", Zetterberg commented on the loss.

The Czech head coach was very pleased with the win of double reasons. "I'm really glad we made it tonight because Sweden is a great team. I've lost so many games against Sweden so it's extra valuable for me", Alois Hadamczik said about finally beating Sweden.

While the Swedes can stay home in Sweden for vacations the Czechs will now travel to Helsinki for a real derby against Slovakia in the semi final on Saturday.

 

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