Canada routes Sweden in goal parade, captures bronze
Searching for their first inline hockey medal since 1998, Canada exploded for 5 goals in the second quarter and 5 more in the third. Led by 6 goals from captain David Hammond in a game that was full of goals and even surreal at times, Canada routed Sweden 13-7 to capture the bronze.
| Game no. 44 • aP3 • Sat 25/6/2011 • 15:30 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Canada |
13:7 |  Sweden |
| (1:2, 5:0, 5:3, 2:2) | ||
| Leggat - Ross, Foote, French, Grassi - Hammond, Woods, Henderson, Eng - Nowakowski, Carter, Hutchinson | Sparring (17. Idoff) - Brolin, Bergman, Berglund, Nilsson - Bejmo, Torgersson, Olsson, Luukkonen - Djerf, Myren, Hoglund, Thellberg - Lilja | |
| Goals and assists: 10. Ross (Foote), 14. Woods (Ross, Grassi), 15. Woods, 17. Hammond, 17. Carter (French), 24. Hammond (Grassi), 27. Hammond (Grassi), 27. Grassi (Hammond), 28. Carter (Grassi), 32. Woods (French), 34. Hammond, 42. Hammond, 45. Hammond (Henderson) - 11. Olsson (Bejmo), 11. Bejmo (Olsson), 26. Olsson, 29. Thellberg (Luukkonen, Bejmo), 35. Hoglund (Brolin, Torgersson), 40. Nilsson (Olsson, Torgersson) 43. Bejmo (Luukkonen, Myren) | ||
| Shots: 36:37
(7:9, 16:6, 9:12, 4:10).
Penalties: 6:6, extra Thellberg (SWE), Hutchinson (CAN) oba OK.
PP goals: 2:1.
SH goals: 0:0. Refferees: Prchal (CZE), Kralj (SLO). Audience: 2500. |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
It wasn’t supposed to be easy and, in the first quarter, it looked like it might not happen at all.
Although there were 20 goals in the game, it actually took until the 10th minute for the game to receive its first goal. On a delayed penalty, Adam Ross sent a perfect wrist shot past Swedish goaltender Jonas Sparring and inside the post to give Canada the lead.
A minute later, Canadian goalkeeper Brett Leggat attempted to poke-check Sweden’s Daniel Brodin and lost his stick. The referee judged that Leggat had thrown the stick, and awarded Brodin a penalty shot. On his shot attempt, Leggat made the initial save, but Brodin put the puck in on a rebound. After initially awarding a goal, the referees conferred and correctly decided that the goal shouldn’t count.
However, Sweden scored anyway right off the next face-off when Simon Olsson ripped a shot past Leggat. Then, 40 seconds later, Olsson set up Emil Bojmo, who gave Sweden a 2-1 lead. The Swedes went to the power-play shortly after the goal, and finished out the first quarter putting on enormous pressure, looking to add to their lead.
The Canadians were on their heels at the end of the first quarter, but they absolutely owned the second. In the quarter, they outshot the Swedes 16-6 and outscored them 5-0. It started in the 14th minute when Thomas Woods scored a typically Canadian goal on the power-play, digging hard in front of the net. And Canada stayed on the power-play after the goal, because a Swedish player delivered a cross-check as the goal was scored. Woods scored again on the power-play 49 seconds later to give the lead back to Canada.
It was still anybody’s game at that point, but Canada definitely had the momentum. The moment where the game really turned in their favour may have been in the 16th minute, when Swedish goaltender Sparrtook a high shot in the shoulder and neck area, and fell to the ice. He eventually returned to his feet and continued in the game, but he surrendered 2 goals on the next 2 shots he faced, and was lifted in favour of Sebastien Idoff. Sparring was injured in the semifinal game against the Czech Republic, and this shot may have aggrevated it. Whether or not it contributed to the goals isn`t clear, as they were two nice shots by David Hammond, who scored his first of 6 on the night, and Jimmy Carter. Canada got its fifth goal of the quarter 27 seconds before halftime. Playing three-on-three, Idoff stoppped Alex Grassi’s initial shot, but Hammond put in the rebound.
The fans at Pardubices ČEZ Arena witnessed eight goals in the first half, and that total was then matched in the third quarter alone. In that wild quarter of action, Canada outscored Sweden 5-3. If Olsson’s second goal of the game in the 26th minute to bring Sweden to within three ignited any thoughts of a Swedish comeback, they were quickly doused by three Canadian goals in the next minute and eight seconds to make it 9-3.
In addition to scoring 6 goals, David Hammond added an assist for 7 points to lead the Canadian output. Other big scorers were Max Grassi with a goal and 4 assists, Thomas Woods with 3 goals, and Adam Ross with a goal and 2 assists.
Lost in the offensive explosion was another fine performance in goal by Brett Leggat, who was named Canada’s MVP of the tournament. Canada was actually outshot 37-36 in the game, and Leggat made 30 saves, with many coming at key times of the game. He made a great kick save off an attempt from Kristian Luukkonen in the fifth minute with the game still scoreless, and came up big a few times when penalty-killing in the fourth quarter, when Sweden was briefly threatening to get back into the game.
Leading the charge for the Swedes were Emil Bejmo and Simon Olsson, who both had 2 goals and 2 assists. When the score was 11-6 with nine minutes to play, Sweden had a two-man advantage and coach Fredrik Skoog saw a chance to get back into the game and pulled Idoff out of the net for a fifth attacker. However, Canada managed to kill the penalties and then Hammond scored his fifth goal, which was his first of two into an empty net.
With the outcome no longer in doubt, tempers boiled over in the late going. Steffan Thellberg and Gordon Hutchinson even squared off and fought, to the amusement of the announced crowd of 2,500.
It may not have gone as planned, but Canada won its first Inline Hockey World Championship medal since 1998, while Sweden failed to win a medal for the first time since 2001.
Author: Derek OBrien
Game reactions
Jason Stephens (trenér Kanady):
This morning, we looked at the video and tried our best to prepare for the third-place game. We won a medal after thirteen years. We wanted it just as much as the Swedes, and maybe that`s why we were so nervous at the end. Two years ago, I was not sure what to expect of my team. But this year, I knew from day one that everyone would play as a team and that we would have a chance for success.
Fredrik Skoog (trenér Švédska):
We had an injured goalie from Czech game, the second one has injured in this. I do not know what has happened to him, I haven´t spoke to him yet. We wanted Canada to have some penalties in the end, that was why the fight in the end. We wanted to do for bronze medal everything. I think that Canada was hungrier for the medal than us. I am proud of my guys what they did here. We have 7 new players in our team, we have started to rebuilt Swedish national team.
