Halifax. Junior Crowns would silence Halifax’s home audience
I didn’t get much New Year’s fanfare.
It wasn’t even close.
There’s nothing wrong with pulling a bow and I’ve read somewhere about Tegan Jr’s cocky attitude.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but then you really have to live up to it.
Parallels were drawn to the Gold Team in 2012 as Johan Larsson, Patrick Nemeth and co weren’t afraid of the Devil himself. At least a few Canadians, though they haven’t encountered any.
Everyone can speak.
But the important thing is on the ice, not in the interviews or in the mixed area.
It’s hard to get a better, more rigorous test than facing an inflated Canada in a crowded arena on New Year’s Eve.
I’ve had the honor of covering a few JVM meetings on North American soil between Canada and Sweden and this is no joke.
If you don’t sort things out, you will be brutalized.
Junior crowns, including national team captain Magnus Havild, were pulled with their pants down.
I felt the blow when the puck was released
In the first period, only one team was on the court.
Nor was Sweden.
There is no shame in losing to the best team in the tournament, the way it happened was disgraceful.
If there is any sequence in a meeting with Canada at home that matters more than any other, it is certainly the opener.
The little crowns felt battered even before the disc was dropped.
It took 57 seconds before Canada made it 1-0.
After 2.08 it came 2-0.
The home team got exactly the tailwind they wouldn’t. It was boiling in the square, which was filled to the brim with Canadians celebrating the New Year.
When Tegan Jr. gets a chance at power play soon after, they are hit with a team penalty.
After 11.45 it was 3-0 and “Go Canada Go” was traded all over the ring.
On another continent, I suspect, a large number of Swedes went to bed even then.
Repair star Conor Bedard managed to ride a bit as he wanted and was involved in all three goals.
The absence of Swedish players was evident.
Not even Karl Lindbom could stop the bleeding and he had the worst possible help from his players on the field.
At the same time, we pay tribute to the Canadians – for the way they played.
Turned around and it was an entertaining game
It is possible to try to do tactical analyses, but it becomes pointless when there are two teams playing at a completely different pace.
You don’t need to analyze why Ferrari is faster than a tricycle.
Little Crowns seemed to have a lot of respect for being up for everything that happened on the ice.
The Canadian match penalty and five minutes of power play ensured that there was at least some Swedish zone time and also reduction.
Ludwig Jansson again. By the way, one of the few Swedes who stood in the wind for 20 minutes.
Canada had their two-and-three chances early in the middle of the period and tied the game, but then Carl Lindbom made some key saves. After that, the match was balanced for the Swedish part and became a really more even and entertaining match as the teams traded chances.
Partly because Sweden has begun to match Canada’s speed, and partly because Canada has suffered a large number of dismissals for being overambitious.
But this was also the short time that the fun continued for Sweden. Just 35 seconds into the third period, Canada made it 4-1.
Moments later, the tide rolled in at the Scotiabank Center.
Suits the beating of Sweden’s denial
For Tegan Jr., Finland now awaits the quarter-finals on Monday and moves the roughly 20 miles from Halifax to Moncton.
A good chance of twice avenging Finland to say a less bitter quarter-final loss two years ago and an equally upsetting semi-final loss in August.
If the loss to Canada is handled in the right way, there is definitely a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Many Swedish teams have had to learn the hard way that results in the group stage are so low when the qualifiers begin.
The same applies now.
But the opposite.
You have to turn it around so that now everything starts from scratch again and Magnus Hävelid’s team definitely goes into the playoffs as underdogs who have everything to win.
Without any scientific evidence, I think it fits the Swedish psyche better.
And everything is far from black. You can’t get a better finale than meeting up with Canada.
If Sweden and the other favorites make their rounds in the quarter-finals, the Swedes avoid the United States and Canada in the semi-finals. Instead, there will be a meeting with the best-ranked team entering the playoffs, the Czech Republic, for the junior crowns.
It’s a long way there.
The talk goes as they say – now it’s really up to this team to prove it.