Olympic Ice Hockey: SWE 1 – SUI 0
By Sean
Day 3 of the olympic ice hockey tournament started off with some action from Group C. Czech Republic and Latvia met first and the ageless Jaromir Jagr led the Czechs to a 4-2 victory over the Latvians. The Czechs now stand at 1-1 and the Latvians are now 0-2. The next games was a match up of the two winners from the first two games of the tournament, Sweden and Switzerland.
Switzerland’s stingy defense and their solid goaltending, once again made them a tough team to beat. However, it was a mistake on the part of the Swiss goaltender, Reto Berra, that led to the one and only goal of the game. With under eight minutes to play in the third period, Berra could not handle a weak shot from the boards and Sweden’s Daniel Alfredsson cashed in on the rebound. It’s a shame really because the Swedes did not have many solid scoring chances for much of the game. The Swiss defense was very good and was able to contain the vicious Swedish attack. In fact, the Swiss were the better team for much of the first half of the game.
Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, once again, was very good in goal and earned a shutout. At the other end, some would question why the Swiss would start Berra over Jonas Hiller, who earned a shutout in Switzerland’s opening game of the tournament against Latvia. However, Berra played well and if it weren’t for that one bad rebound, who knows, that game could’ve gone into overtime or either a shootout. The Swiss are now 1-1 and will finish off pool play against the Czechs, while the Swedes with the win have clinched Group C and have already earned a spot in the quarter finals.
Some bad news for the Swedes though is that captain Henrik Zetterberg is now officially out of the tournament with a herniated disk in his back. This just adds onto the list of injuries for the Swedes and Zetterberg will be hard to replace.
Scoring Breakdown by Period:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — | 1 |
| SUI | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 |
- SWE: Alfredsson (1)
Shot Breakdown by Period
| Period | SWE | SUI |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 5 | 13 |
| 2nd | 17 | 7 |
| 3rd | 9 | 6 |
| OT | — | — |
| Total | 31 | 26 |
Powerplay Efficiency:
| Period | SWE | SUI |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 0/1 | 0/1 |
| 2nd | 0/2 | — |
| 3rd | 0/1 | 0/1 |
| OT | — | — |
| Total | 0/4 | 0/2 |
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