First five
Strolman - C.Johnsson, Mortensson - J.Johnsson - Ternberg
One of the best defenders in the history of Swedish hockey, Kenny Jonsson is no longer young, rarely wins speed races against his opponent's forwards, defends the colors of the modest Regla, but is still irreplaceable in the national team. The king is so easy in the power struggle, especially when it comes to crushing at the sides. Almost the entire game in the majority is being built around this lean veteran, in which the Swedes are by far the best in the tournament. His partner Strolman possesses not only the familiar Russian ear named Anton, but also excellent physical data. Together they will squeeze any opponent out of the zone. The top three are the most productive. Linkoping forward Tony Mortensson has already scored eleven points and scored an impressive hat-trick against the Slovaks. The partners - Jorgen Jonsson and Martin Ternberg are not far behind, managing to play both in the majority and in the minority.
Second five
Ternstrom - Ockerman, Varg - Wallin - Emwall
This link, as, indeed, the whole team, issued a pale match against the Canadians. Johan Ockerman was completely lost, whose cannon throw took many goalkeepers by surprise, including the impregnable Finn Kari Lehtonen for our team. Dick Turnstrom often lost a fight on the spot forwards “Maple leaves”, which in previous matches was not observed. In this combination, the Swedes spent only the last two matches. Prior to this, Kanberg and Hedstrom acted alternately on the site of the left extreme striker. Perhaps the most dangerous is the speedy and maneuverable Ricard Wallin, who opens with pleasure under the long and timely broadcasts of his partner in the Swiss “Lugano” Ternstrem.
Third five
Enstrom - Hallberg, Hernqvist - Davidsson - Bremberg
Tobias Enstrom is a regular in the majority. His connection with Magnus Johansson is very dangerous and effective. In equal compositions, he usually acts with Per Hollberg, who rarely goes forward and is mainly focused on defense. At the same time, interestingly, Hollberg has already excelled at the championship, but Enstrem has not. The main striking force of the Swedish team is Johan Davidsson of the XB-71. Only he managed to print the Canadians' gates and brought his scorer score to seven goals. In addition, this striker assists partners perfectly - there are also seven assists. Extreme strikers - Patrick Hernqvist and Fredrik Bremberg - prefer to act slowly, but it’s very difficult to take away the puck without breaking the rules.
Fourth five
Johansson, Steen (Headstrom) - Backstrom - Monsson
The Swedes use seven defenders, so Magnus Johansson plays on the residual principle - who will have to. Bent Oke Gustafsson appreciates such qualities as endurance, clean puck selection and incredible tenacity. Johansson, like Ockerman, has already scored three goals. In this truncated link, the only Enkhaelist is Alexander Steen. It can be replaced by Headstrom on occasion.
Goalkeepers
Johan Backlund, Daniel Henriksson
Coaches from the first match made it clear that Beklund - the main goalkeeper. And although at the group stage he was successfully replaced by Henriksson and Oersberg, the experiments ended in the playoffs. The goalkeeper of Timro firmly took the number one position, played quite confidently, made no gross mistakes, but missed ... eight goals in two games. Too much. Therefore, it is likely that in the match for third place on the ice will go the future goalkeeper of “Siberia” Daniel Henriksson.
Star
Johan Davidsson
The Swedes do not have such a brilliant by the names of the composition, which last year won the Olympics and the World Cup. Kenny and Jorgen Jonsson enjoy great authority, but it was Davidsson who proved himself to be a real leader during the tournament. In the semi-finals with the Canadians, he was the most active: he disturbed Cam Ward with throws from any distance, stubbornly climbed a piglet and earned a goal, which, however, was facilitated by the rebound.
Special brigades
The Swedish national team, despite the inexpressive game in the semifinals, is still the leader in the implementation of the numerical advantage. Of the 37 goals almost a third - fourteen - she scored in the majority. Almost all the central attackers deftly play on the face-off, and the defenders - Ockerman, Enstrom and Johansson - love and know how to click from the blue line. In the minority, the Swedes play very carefully - only five goals conceded.
Summary
Against the background of Canadians, the Swedes looked somewhat lost. The majority game had disappeared somewhere, the dimensional defenders could not keep up with the persistent Canadian forwards, and goalkeeper Baklund frankly could not help out. But there is no doubt that in the match for bronze the Swedish team will do its best to prevent a second failure in a row.
Probably, one should not attach great importance to the victory of the Russian team in the qualification round. And then the medals were still far away. And then the Swedes did without Kenny Jonsson. And the goalkeeper put the third - Eric Ersberg. In the upcoming match, all the strongest will be on ice, and the Finns have already demonstrated what the victories in the preliminary stages are. This time the national teams of Russia and Sweden have something to fight for. Not only medals are at stake, but also prestige.