An important victory for Sweden and the defeat of Latvia in overtime: what will be remembered for the tenth day of the Ice Hockey World Cup

The nature of the Scandinavians

Sweden and Slovakia met in the central match of the day.

Success was vital for Tre Krunur, as in the first five meetings of the tournament they won only two wins and ended up in sixth place.

Slovaks, on the other hand, have suffered only one defeat and are fighting for leadership in Group A.

It is not surprising that it was the Scandinavians who went ahead from the first minutes, since they simply had no other choice.

However, the attacks of Juhan Garpenlev's charges were quite straightforward, and their pressure practically did not lead to the creation of dangerous moments at the gates of Adam Guska.

Slovaks looked much more interesting in counterattacks.

Actually, in the starting period, they inflicted ten shots against the opponent's six and could have upset Adam Reideborn many times.

Just take an inaccurate throw by Juraj Slafkovski into an empty corner.

But shortly before the break, the team still opened an account.

Craig Ramsey's team covered the rival with pressure in a foreign zone, and Peter Ceglaric scored a successful click.

Moreover, Reideborn reflected the shot, but the puck was in the net with a ricochet from Magnus Nygren.

In the second period, the Swedes began to act with even greater desire and increased the pressure on the Guska goal.

In the end, it still led to a goal.

Max Friberg succeeded in a soft throw on a penny, which was closed by Marcus Sørensen.

Having equalized the score, the Scandinavians finally seized the initiative and closed the opponent in the zone.

Throws on goal Guski went one after another, but for the time being he saved his team, and sometimes the opponent lacked accuracy.

It seemed that Garpenlev's team lacked the very little.

And this detail was the removal of Adam Janosik for the bandwagon.

Sweden immediately realized the majority.

Viktor Olofsson scored a nine ball with brushes.

In the future, the Slovaks had moments to recoup.

But, unlike the opponent, they failed to distinguish themselves in unequal compositions and to punish the opponent for fouls by Nygren and Jesper Froden.

And at the last minute, Isak Lundeström hit an empty target and put an end to the confrontation.

So the Swedes won an important victory and moved up to the playoff zone.

Nevertheless, the Czechs lagging behind them by a point have a meeting in reserve. 

Lack of will of Belarusians

For the national team of Belarus, the World Championship started very successfully.

After the defeat to Slovakia, they sensationally beat Sweden, and then lost to the Czech Republic only in overtime.

It seemed that with so many unexpected results, the team could well compete for the playoffs.

However, after this, Mikhail Zakharov's wards suffered painful defeats from Great Britain (3: 4) and Denmark (2: 5).

On Sunday, in order to preserve the chances of reaching the quarterfinals, the team from the post-Soviet space needed to beat Switzerland. The coaching staff, on the eve of the key confrontation, made major changes in the composition. Four legionnaires were not included in the application for the meeting at once: Nick Bailen, Francis Paré, Danny Taylor and Shane Prince.

However, this did not help.

The Alpines opened the scoring already at the 36th second thanks to the competent play on finishing off Christoph Bertsy.

In addition, in the first period, the key defender of the Belarusians Christian Henkel left the ice after a double power move.

After that, the team fell apart completely.

Severstal's young goalkeeper Konstantin Shostak missed two more goals and lost his place at the last line to Alexei Kolosov.

He was also upset three times.

The final score is 6: 0.

The national team of Belarus has lost the last chances of getting into the playoffs.

As part of the Swiss, it is worth noting, firstly, the goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni, who reflected all 20 shots on target.

Secondly, Yoel Vermin, who scored three points for performance.

Finally, Gregory Hoffman scored the fifth goal in the tournament and now shares the lead in the sniper championship race with Briton Liam Kirk.

The courage of the Canadians

The Canadians, on the other hand, did not start the championship in the best way, having suffered three defeats in a row, but then gained speed and beat Norway, Kazakhstan and Italy with a total score of 15: 5.

However, the "Squadra Azzurra" had no chances in the confrontation with the "Maple Leaves" initially.

As a result, 12 minutes were enough for Gerard Galland's wards to send four unanswered goals into the gates of an inferior opponent in the class.

Giorgio De Bettin made a goalkeeper change at a critical moment, and it helped.

The favorite scored the next goal only in the second period, and the Italians even managed to score before that thanks to an accurate shot from close range by Angelo Micheli.

After that, the Canadians again inflated the momentum and playfully upset the opponent three times more - 7: 1.

Two people in the roster of the North American team at once scored four points for performance.

Connor Brown gave four assists, and Andrew Manjapane scored a double and assisted twice.

In addition, Brown, along with Adam Henrik and Peter Ceglaric, now tied for number one in the championship top scorers list with nine points.

For the Canadians, the third victory in a row helped to catch up in the standings of Group B, Germany, which closes the playoff zone.

At the same time, the Bundestim played one game less.

Finnish luck

And a little later a big gift to Canada was presented by Finland, which beat Latvia in overtime (3: 2) and did not allow it to bypass the North Americans and Germans in the standings of the octet B. The Balts' mood for this meeting was very serious.

For example, in one of the episodes, Ronald Keninsh used such a forceful technique against Kim Nousiainen that he flew to the bench of his team.

But Suomi turned out to be more skillful.

Already in the fourth minute, the favorite managed to open an account.

Janis Kalnins reflected a shot from the left circle, but could not do anything about finishing off Saku Mäenalanen.

However, the Latvians played back shortly before the siren for a break.

The young forward of Riga "Dynamo" Martins Dzierkals gave the fans hope by wisely using his chance on a nickle.

But in the second period the Finns took the lead again.

Now Iiro Pakarinen has competently substituted the club under the partner's throw from the blue line.

Bob Hartley's team again found itself in the position of taking revenge.

Nevertheless, the Balts did not think to give up.

In the final 20 minutes, they unleashed a real flurry of attacks on Harry Sateri's gate and still managed to win back.

The double was designed by Dzierkalis.

The forward at the last moment managed to substitute the club under the partner's throw from the left side, and the projectile ricocheted right into the net.

As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided only in overtime.

The Finns, literally four seconds before its end, snatched the victory thanks to the throw of Anton Lundell and deprived the opponent of the most important point in the fight for reaching the quarterfinals.

Now Canada, Latvia and Germany are tied for fourth place.

At the same time, the Germans have one match in reserve.