Sweden defeats the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game
Both teams picked the starting netminders that took them into the medal round, and Wallstedt more than held down the fort against Tomas Suchanek. The final shots favored the Czech Republic 28-23.
“For me, it’s my last junior game, so I also wanted to finish with a medal,” Wallstedt said. “We wanted gold, but bronze is pretty good too. Right now, the feeling is as good as winning a gold. We’re so happy, and finishing the last game with a medal makes the journey home a lot easier.”
Defensively, Sweden performed well in Edmonton. The junior crowns boasted the best combined goalie numbers (1.44 GAA, 94.1 save percentage) with the duo of Wallstedt and backup Calle Clang. Their penalty kill ruled at 85.7 percent (three goals allowed on 21 downs).
The Swedes did not have an easy time scoring in this world junior final. They beat Latvia 2-1 in the quarter-finals before being blanked by Finland in the semi-finals.
The bronze medal game promised to be a defensive battle, and it was. The Czechs fared best against tournament powers by taking away time and space in the neutral zone, while Sweden have come close to overdoing it in the patience department of these world juniors.
Both sides came out fighting hard, but with little to show for it. Swedish captain Emil Andrae called off the post during the first Czech penalty to defender Stanislav Svozil.
Lysell opened the scoring at 14:22 on a dynamic solo rush, battling Jiri Tichacek’s control on the right side and weaving behind the net to surprise Suchanek with a wraparound. It was Lysell’s second goal of the tournament. The 19-year-old Frolunda product, a 2021 Boston Bruins first-rounder, had 22 goals and 62 points with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants last year.
In the second period, the Czechs increased the tempo. Still nothing. Sweden’s best mid-period opportunity saw Daniel Ljungman and Oskar Magnusson hardly fail to make an odd man break. A couple of minutes later, Wallstedt didn’t bite when Petr Hauser stole the puck from Anton Olsson in close range and tried a backhand deke. The tension increased.
With 6:38 left in the middle frame, Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson was ejected for tripping. It took the Czech Republic just eight seconds to tie it with the man advantage. Off the faceoff in the Swedish end, Jiricek floated a wrister from the blue line that deflected off Gut and tricked Wallstedt and trickled past his right pad.
Less than three minutes later, Sweden took back the lead, also after a draw in the offensive zone. Theodor Niederbach won it and Rosen jumped into the gap with the puck. When Jiricek turned to block the shot, Rosen used him as a decoy to slot his fourth goal of these World Juniors past Suchanek.
Rosen praised Sweden’s mentality for this third-place finish: “We said to ourselves, ‘We have to decide if we want to win a bronze or not.’ I think we had a pretty good game today.”
The teams finished the middle stanza, exchanging chances vigorously. Jakub Kos hit one off the iron to the right of Wallstedt, and Suchanek came over with the blocker to stop an incoming Niederbach.
About 3:30 into the third, Wallstedt beat Kos off the slot to keep it 2-1 Sweden. After Andrae went off for slashing, the Swedish keeper stayed sharp and slid across to block a Jiri Kulich PP one-timer.
On Sweden’s PK ability, Gut said: “It’s difficult. They played well against us, but sometimes you score, and sometimes you don’t.”
At the other end, Oskar Olausson sifted through a couple of Czech defenders and narrowly failed to beat Suchanek for a third Swedish strike. Midway through the period, the Czechs squandered another power play after Andrae turned the puck over the glass in his own zone for a minor delay of game. Kos set up Matous Mensik for a great look in front, but again Wallstedt said no.
With 3:26 left, Sjodin, who took a nice pass on the rush from William Wallinder, beat Suchanek stick-side from the right faceoff circle to make it 3-1. Finally, there was some breathing space for the blue and yellow team.
Suchanek came out for the extra striker just moments later, but all the Czech pressure was in vain. A mini-scrum broke out in the Swedish end at the buzzer, temporarily interrupting the bronze medal celebration.
“We really didn’t want to leave Edmonton without a medal,” Wallstedt said. “We came out today full of confidence and wanted that medal maybe a little more than the Czechs.”
In the post-Czechoslovakia era, the Czech Republic has won just three previous world junior medals: back-to-back gold under coach Jaroslav Holik (2000-01) and a bronze (2005) with a squad featuring Rostislav Olesz, Roman Cervenka and David Krejci.
Sweden will try to break another long gold medal drought at the 2023 World Juniors (Halifax and Moncton, December 26 to January 5). Despite their deep talent pool, the Swedes have won the tournament only twice (1981 in West Germany, 2012 in Calgary).
“We have a bronze medal, not a gold medal, so probably it was not a successful tournament,” Andrae said openly. “That was our goal. It’s a tough event, physically and mentally. We had our ups and downs. We did our best.”