Sweden beat Germany 5-2 to move into 11th straight semi-final
Sweden was on fire and came up with a dominating performance against Germany that witnessed them scoring 5 goals and winning the game by a 3 goal margin.
The score could have been worse and the Germans can consider themselves fortunate for losing 5-2.
Sweden scored two goals through Martin Thörnberg, and the team came up with a dominating performance overall. Patrik Berglund also scored three points and goal keeper, Viktor Fasth, had 35 saves during the course of the game.
"I’m really happy. It was a tough game. We met this team before and we know that they play with much intensity. We couldn’t defend as well as we wanted. We had many giveaways, but offensively we played very well", added Team Sweden Head Coach, Pär Mårts.
Germany faced the same trouble they had during the tournament every now and then, of falling behind early. In this game, it took them just one goal to give away a goal from where the troubles started. The games against Finland and Czech Republic both saw
German defenders putting the puck into their own net after 12 and 51 seconds respectively.
In the quarterfinal, though the goal wasn’t an own goal, it came off a defender and into Thörnberg’s path, who scored from a splendid shot. The Germans were able to find their way back into the game with a goal that levelled the scores.
"We started off fast, and they scored on their first chance, but when we got the second goal we were able to sort out our game", said Carl Gunnarsson.
After a nervous and poor first period in terms of passing, the Swedish were on top at the start of the second period. The Swedish kept on piling the pressure and scored two more goals before the Germans bagged a goal.
The Germans were hoping for a comeback but Swedish determination paid off, as they scored once again and sealed the game 5-2 in the end. The win booked their spot in the semi-finals for the 11th straight time.
Sweden has failed to qualify for the semi-finals only twice and that was in 1996 and then in 2000 since 1992 when the play-off system was introduced into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships.
Sweden will be up against the Czech Republic in the semi-final that will take place on May 13, 2011. The game will be very entertaining as the Czechs defeated the United States of America 4-0 after a brilliant performance.
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