Dubli Morozov and Sokolov and the overtime winning goal: how Russia beat Sweden and reached the final of the Hockey World Championship

The Russian hockey team beat the national team of Sweden in the semifinals of the youth world championship in the Czech Republic. The meeting lasted all 60 minutes, and the winner was determined only in overtime. The author of the winning puck was Ivan Morozov, who scored a double.

Over the past ten years, the Swedish team has become one of the most uncomfortable rivals for the Russian team at the youth championships of the planet. The teams met among themselves 12 times and only in three cases did domestic athletes prevail. It is noteworthy that each of these victories invariably led them to championship medals. In 2011, wards of Valery Bragin won gold, four years later they were content with silver, and in 2018 they took bronze.

It is worth noting that all the victories of the Russian team fell into the playoff stage, which indicates the ability of hockey players to gather for the most important meetings. If at the group stage they lost all six times, then at key moments they lost only three times. True, once this happened in the final. In 2012, the Scandinavians had one accurate throw to win the youth world championship for the first time in 31 years.

However, this time the Swedes could hardly be considered unambiguous favorites. Of course, they prevailed in all five matches of the competition and had more attractive statistics, but their rivals in the group were clearly weaker. A confident and mature game, coupled with a strong roster, spoke for the Russians, and a major victory over the Canadians proved that they were able to beat the strongest.

As for the “tre krunur”, star defense was considered its strength, in which three representatives of the top 25 NHL draft last year were represented at once. Philip Bruberg, Victor Söderström and Tobias Björnfoot have already managed to prove themselves in this tournament, but an older comrade flashed in the debut. Already at the 16th second, Rasmus Sandin with a powerful click sent the puck exactly at nine and pulled Sweden forward. Yaroslav Askarov was closed by his own defenders and could not interfere with the Toronto Marlies player.

For the Russians, it was vitally important to restore the status quo as soon as possible and not allow rational Swedes to close on their half of the site. Alexander Holz helped them in this, already in the second minute he earned an optional removal. After 16 consecutive unsuccessful attempts to realize the majority of Russians have become proficient in this matter and very soon opened the gate of Hugo Alnefelt. Vasily Podkolzin and Pavel Dorofeev sent Ivan Morozov to throw, and he sent the puck into the house of a talented goalkeeper.

And already in the fifth minute the impression was created that for the Swedes the game could be over. The best scorer of the championship Nils Hoglander hit his head with an elbow to Grigory Denisenko and earned a fine match. The Russians got five minutes in unequal compositions, which they took advantage of, even if only once. Dmitry Voronkov fought great on the nickle, and Alexander Khovanov became the author of the second goal.

Jeweler! # SWERUS # sleepy Russia pic.twitter.com / 3w13XLemDc

It might seem that the wards of Thomas Monten are in a state of grogging, and the exact throw performed by Yegor Sokolov had every chance of finally breaking them down. The deep pressure of the Swedes did not give a result, but it bare the rear, which allowed the Russians to quickly switch from defense to attack. Alnefelt left to insure partners, but made a gross mistake, and the domestic striker doubled the lead. The removal of Alexander Romanov helped to revive the intrigue. Samuel Fagemo scored the seventh goal in the tournament and strengthened his status as the best sniper, and Sandin acted as an assistant.

The first half of the second period was an equal fight and was full of dangerous moments at both one and the other gates. But gradually the initiative began to move to the Scandinavians. They acted very actively, acted great in forekking and increasingly locked Russians in their zone. Nevertheless, they did not succeed in hitting Askarov’s gates for a long time, but the course of the game was violated by the optional removal of Khovanov. Center forward hit an opponent in the head in an absolutely harmless episode and earned "2 + 10". “Tre Kronur” only had 31 seconds to restore the status quo, and Sandin and Fagemo switched roles. This time the defender acted as a sniper, and the striker took the lead in the scorer race.

This failure produced a sobering effect on the Russian team and forced her to again take the threads of the game in her own hands. The Swedes were not ready for sharply increased speeds and earned removal twice in a row. Podkolzin and the company had more than one chance to get ahead, but the most obvious one was missed by Kirill Marchenko. SKA striker could only hit the open corner, but Alnefelt was noted as a wonderful save. The goalkeeper managed to move from one corner to another in a split second and averted the threat.

Urgently admire 🙌 # SWERUS # sleeps Russia pic.twitter.com / UOKsbtbwox

If Alnefelt at the start of the third period managed to please a couple of salvations, Askarov soon missed the fourth goal. The Russians again remained in the minority, and Sandin organized another goal “tre krunur”. This time he was at the forefront of Nils Lundkivst, for whom this goal was the first in the tournament. Yaroslav was again closed by his own defenders and was hardly to blame for the goal conceded, but Bragin decided to throw Amir Miftakhov into battle.

And already after more than four minutes, Alnefelt again reminded that it is difficult to call him a stable goalkeeper. The Swede again played uncertainly, but the same Sokolov punished him. Egor opened on the left edge, showed that he would throw in the far, but sent the puck into the near. After a few seconds, Hugo nearly missed the fifth time, but David Gustafsson pulled the puck off the line. It is noteworthy that in the first episode a similar moment was at the gates of the Bragin team, and Daniil Zhuravlev played the role of savior.

In the end, both Russians and Swedes had chances, but the score remained the same. At first, Miftakhov did not allow Lukas Raymond to distinguish himself, and then again Marchenko was unlucky. Cyril broke into the operational space and threw a shot, but a club of one of the rivals stood in the way. Thus, the solution of the question regarding the first participant in the finals of the youth world championship was postponed until overtime. According to IIHF rules, hockey players had to spend ten minutes in the format of "three by three."

The first three minutes, Bragin's wards have never touched the puck and nearly allowed their opponents to put the winning point. Gustafsson had a great chance, but Miftakhov played beyond praise. And the decisive word was said by one of the best players of the Russian national team in the match. Ivan Morozov single-handedly dealt with two defenders of the “tre krunur” and designed a double.

The Russian team completely surpassed the Swedish team in terms of the number of shots on goal (44:25), which eventually turned into a well-deserved victory. Bragin's wards for the fifth time in the last ten years reached the final of the World Youth Championship and on January 5 they will try to win gold for the second time. Until now, the last success is the 2011 Buffalo tournament, where domestic athletes made a grand comeback in a duel with Canadians.