» USHL Players of the Week   » Kozun is WHL Player of the Month for December, 2008   » Broda named WHL Player of the Week   » Stefanovich, Monast named QMJHL Players of the Week   » O'Dell named OHL Player of the Week   

Featured Article

Canada Starts off strong against Sweden

Written by: Chris McCluskey on 12/27/2002 Subscribe to HF's RSS Feed

The curiousness and passiveness felt by fans at the Finland vs. Germany game earlier in the day quickly changed to nervous energy as the host Canada was due to take on Team Sweden in the first round robin match-up for both countries. The cheering during the player introductions nearly took the roof off the Metro Centre, and Canada did not disappoint the 10,300 faithful on hand; demonstrating the dominance expected for every Canadian team in international play with an 8-2 thrashing of their Swedish counterparts.

Special teams were a huge factor on this night as Canada sprung for 6 powerplay markers on a very undisciplined Swedish squad and adding one while short handed. It took Canada just 1:31 to get on the board with a goal from Brooks Laich from Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White. Colaiacovo went on to score 4 assists, a team high for points on the night.

Swedish goaltender Mathias Fagerstrom's play was less than spectacular but he did make several difficult saves throughout the game. Along with the team giving up too many power play chances, Fagerstrom was also often left helpless by his defence whose coverage of open Canadian players was below par.

To the delight of the fans on hand the Swedes could not match Canada's very strong physical presence which often left the Scandanavians scrambling. This was led by fan favorite Jordin Tootoo, whose name echoed throughout the arena every time he came on the ice.

"I don't try to change my style when I am out there, said the Nashville Predators prospect when asked about his popularity, I like to bang around and thats Canadian hockey."

Ian White scored his first of two goals late in the first and the Swedes did finally get on the board with two second period goals from Robert Nilsson and Joakim Lindstrom but that was as many as they would get. Matt Stajan along with White rounded out goal scoring for the second period while Derek Roy, Brendan Bell, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, and Scottie Upshall all scored singles in the third.

There were also some tense moments in the game as Scottie Upshall and Frederik Sjostrom were given roughing minors for stick work during a faceoff in the second period, Yared Hagos pulling Boyd Gordons helmet off, a third period retaliation penalty to Andreas Jamtin for retaliating after a clean hit from Tootoo, Pierre-Marc Bouchard checking a Swedish defender from behind, and a short melee stemming from Jonas Leetma dragging down a Canadian who broke free and went in on Fagerstrom alone. After all was said and done, 22 penalties were called by referee Alexander Poliakov who did an admirable job maintaining control of the game.

Canadian goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 16 saves while Fagerstrom stopped 28 of 36 in a losing cause. Carlo Colaiacovo picked up player of the game honors for the Canadians while Joakim Lindstrom took it home for the Swedes. Tomorrow is an off day for both teams but they will both be back in action this Saturday.

Copyright 2002 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.

HF Quick Navigation