Sweden Routs Austria 5-0
Steven Ellis/The Hockey News
Sweden has improved to 2-0 after a one-sided 5-0 win over Austria on Friday.
Simon Edvinsson started the game with a blast at 12:57 in the first to make it 1-0 Sweden in a period that saw Sweden outshoot Austria 21-3.
The second period was where things started to fall apart, though. Isak Rosen scored on the man advantage at 20:59 before Emil Andrae added two goals from the point, including one on the power play, to make it 4-0.
The game’s pace really slowed down in the second, with Fabian Lysell missing a penalty shot at 48:33. Just over 30 seconds later, though, he scored just before the end of Maximilian Hengelmuller’s tripping penalty, finding a small opening beside Austrian netminder Sebastian Wraneschitz’s head for the 5-0 goal. Theodor Niederbach scored with 26 seconds left in the game to put a pin on things, with Swedish netminder Calle Clang stopping all 14 shots sent his way for the shutout.
Slovakia, Beats Latvia in Shootout
Steven Ellis/The Hockey News
Slovakia got the extra point in an important battle with Latvia, escaping with a 3-2 shootout victory.
The win puts Slovakia in a good spot to make it to the quarterfinal, with Latvia needing to beat Czechia on Sunday with a Slovakian regulation loss against Finland to advance.
Latvia took its first lead of the tournament at 9:44 of the first period. Martins Lavins’ shot was stopped on the man advantage, but Dans Locmelis was there to knock in the rebound to make it 1-0. The lead lasted for another eight minutes when Adam Sykora scored at 17:57, capitalizing on a few minutes of heavy pressure by Switzerland.
Dalibor Dvorsky, a potential top five pick for the 2023 draft, gave Slovakia its first lead of the game. Libor Nemec and Roman Faith had chances in a scramble attempt, but Dvorsky was there to get the puck over Bruno Bruveris for the 2-1 goal. At 32:39, Niks Fenenko, a 2023 draft prospect himself, scored from a bad angle on the goal line to make it 2-2 in what had been an otherwise quiet period by the Latvians.
The game required a shootout, where the Slovaks came up strong. Roman Faith scored the first goal, with Latvia’s Darels Dukurs tying it up on Latvia’s second attempt. On Slovakia’s final shot, Matej Kaslik beat Bruveris for the game-winner, giving Slovakia its first win of the tournament.
