Sweden continued undefeated in the world junior hockey tournament
as they beat a game Ukrainian team 7-1 in front of an enthusiastic crowd
in Sherwood Park Friday night.  There is a large Ukrainian population
locally and they turned out in force for this game.  They may have been
disappointed with the result, but not the efforts of their team.
        The Swedes, however, wasted no time applying the pressure from
the opening whistle.  Sweden started goaltender Henrik Smangs for this
game.  As usual the Ukrainians went with Igor Karpenko who has gained a
lot of fans in Alberta this week as he has played well while being
peppered with shots in each game the Ukrainians have played.  It was no
different for much of this game.  Per Svartvadet scored at 1:08 on
Sweden's third shot of the game.  He had already hit a post.  Assists to
Jespar Mattsson, who had a busy game on the ice and in the penalty box,
and New York Rangers' draft pick Niklas Sundstrom.
        The Swedes continued to make themselves at home in the Ukrainian
end when Alexey Bernatsky of Ukraine took a hooking penalty.  The Ukraine
actually looked more effective killing the penalty, although the Swedes
did hit the post again.  Perhaps the Ukrainians were more comfortable
when they could concentrate only on defence.
        The penalty kill seemed to inspire the Ukrainians who forced
Smangs to make a sprawling save, then drew a hooking penalty on Johan
Finnstrom at 10:38.  On the power play Ukraine had trouble getting into
the Swedish zone but after the penalty Sergey Kharchenko drove in for a
shot and drew a holding penalty on Anders Soderburg at 13:13 with the
partizan Ukrainians going wild.  I should note that Canadian fans tend to
be fairly quiet at hockey games compared to their American counterparts
(on average--no posts citing exceptions please!).  After the power play
Soderburg broke in and got the puck behind Karpenko but not over the line.
        Then the Ukraine shocked the Swedes at 15:45 when Roman Salnikov
broke in on a 2x1 and put the puck over Smangs to tie the game.  Assist
to Alexey Lazarenko.  For the next couple of minutes it was the Ukraine
which looked threatening.  All in all the Ukrainians deserved the tie at
the end of the period, and the crowd for the most part was delighted.
SHOTS: Sweden 12  Ukraine 8
 
        The Swedes brought everyone back to reality by scoring quickly
again at 1:11.  They had started with pressure immediately, and like the
first period, hit a post before Johan Davidsson put in a rebound off the
post.  Assists to Fredrik Johansson and Anders Eriksson.
        Then there were a series of penalties, first to Niklas Sundstrom
at 4:12 for hooking, then matching slashing penalties to Daniel
Tjarnquist and Alexey Lazarenko at 6:02, which show the competitive
nature of this game at this point.  Jespar Mattsson went off for cross
checking at 7:04, then Alexey Bernatsky for hooking at 8:10.  After the
power play Sweden broke through again at 10:18.  Anders Eriksson banged
it in through a scrum of players with assists to Anders Soderburg and
Andreas Karlsson.
        Showing frustration, at 14:56 Lazarenko took not only a checking
from behind penalty, but a misconduct as well.  Sweden converted the
chance with Anders Erikkson scoring again on a shot from the point with
an assist to Jespar mattson at 15:38.  Sweden closed the scoring in the
period when Fredrik Johansson skated in on the right side and lifted one
past Karpenko at 16:23 making the score 5-1.  The shots reflect the
imbalance of play, Sweden 19  Ukraine 3
 
        The shooting gallery continued in the third, once again for the
completists I will list goals and penalties. Sweden scored at 1:48 when
Johansson again lifted one past the beleagured Ukraine goalkeeper.
Assists to Peter Strom and Johan Davidsson.  Perhaps due to the imbalence
of the game the ref let a couple of penalties go, but then called
Vladislav Shevtchenko for hooking.
        Johan Davidsson scored unassisted on a rebound from in close at
9:32.  This closed the scoring with the final 7-1.  Sweden did draw some
penalties as the game wore on.  11:54, Johan Finnstrom for roughing, and
Jespar mattson twice, for boarding at 15:38 and hooking at 18:52.
        The tournament looks like it is heading to a showdown for the
gold in the last game between Sweden and Canada, but there is much hockey
yet to be played.
 
Arthur Berman  [log in to unmask]
THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER!!!
GO BU!!!