2007 IIHF Women's World Championship

Matchup: Switzerland 0 vs. Sweden 4, 4 p.m., MTS Centre | IIHF Summary

IT’S A NICE WIN-BERG FOR BRONZE-BOUND SWEDES

By Brant Batters

Second chances are sweet. Sweden blanked Switzerland 4-0 Monday in Winnipeg to get a shot at the bronze medal after initially failing to crack the top group of three teams at the 2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship. Pernilla Winberg led the way with two goals and an assist.

The other Swedish goals came from Maria Rooth and Katrina Timglas. Goalie Sara Grahn got her second straight win and first shutout of the tournament for Sweden, stopping all 16 shots she faced.

The Swedes will face the winner of the Canada-Finland game (unless the game goes to overtime, in which case Canada would advance regardless of who wins, due to having a superior points total) at 3:30 p.m. at the MTS Centre on Tuesday. Sweden’s opponent will probably be Finland, the same team that beat Sweden 1-0 in overtime during the Preliminary Round--and its archrival.

“It’ll be tough,” said Swedish Head Coach Peter Elander of the likely prospects of playing Finland for bronze. “We’ve played them so many times this year. We have a good chance, but it’s going to be a real tough one.”

This will be Sweden’s third straight appearance in the World Women’s third-place game and its seventh of all time. Tre Kronor’s only previous bronze medal in this tournament came on home ice in 2005.

Elander wasn’t happy with the officiating, as he claimed fouls on his star players went uncalled. He added: “We played a good game, but we didn’t use our chances enough. We should have been up by seven, eight, or more goals.”

The Swiss matched their best-ever finish at the World Women’s Championship with fifth place. The last time they did that was at the inaugural Worlds in 1990.

Switzerland could never break through Sweden’s defence, only firing three shots in the second period. Meanwhile, Swiss netminder Florence Schelling faced 57 shots, and could be a candidate for Best Goalie when the tournament wraps up.

In the end, Schelling’s teammates spent too much time in the penalty box, and never generated enough scoring opportunities to warrant challenging the Swedes.

The game was tightly played at the outset, apart from a chance near the five-minute mark that Switzerland’s Laura Ruhnke couldn’t convert on the doorstep. As time wore on, the Swedes began using their superior skills to get around Swiss defenders in 1-on-1 situations.

Sweden got on the board at 15:45 of the first period. Edstrand skated towards the net, trying to put the puck through Schelling’s legs, but the Swiss netminder made the original save. Following up the play, Winberg banged the loose puck past Schelling to give the Swedes a 1-0 lead.

Sweden’s second goal was an individual effort by Rooth. She skated from behind the net untouched, sliding the puck underneath a falling Schelling to make it 2-0 at 12:04 of the second period.

In the second minute of play in the third period, Switzerland’s Silvia Bruggmann got a breakaway, and her shot went off Grahn’s glove and nearly trickled behind the goaltender. Grahn desperately tried to sweep the puck out of harm’s way, and Swedish defenceman Nanna Jansson put it along the goal line and off the inside of Grahn’s right post, but it amazingly didn’t go in.

In the second minute of play in the third period, Silvia Bruggmann had a great chance for Switzerland on a breakaway. Grahan got a piece of it with her glove, but it nearly trickled into the net. Nanna Jansson tried to prevent the puck from going in, but nearly poked it in herself, putting it off the inside of Grahn’s right post.

Winberg put Sweden up 3-1 at 5:22 after taking arguably the best coast-to-coast breakaway pass of the tournament so far from Emma Eliasson, busting down the center and beating Schelling five-hole.

With 5:40 left in the game, Katarina Timglas got two cracks at Schelling and cashed in the rebound along the ice past the Swiss goalie’s left skate to round out the scoring.

Sweden has now beaten Switzerland five times in official international play, and never lost. The last win was 7-1 at the 1997 Worlds in Kitchener, Ontario.

“We lost the game, but if you think of the whole tournament, we are proud of what we did here,” said Swiss Head Coach Rene Kammerer. “We are Number Five in the world. Nobody thought that we could do this.”

The Player of the Game was Winberg for the Swedes and Schelling for the Swiss.

Switzerland’s top three players for the tournament were also named: Kathrin Lehmann, Christine Meier, and Florence Schelling.

“I think it was a good game,” said Schelling. “We played very hard, and we had nothing to lose, so we just tried to go as fast as possible and do everything we could to win. Throughout the tournament, I was very impressed by my team. I’ve never seen them play that well.”

Prior to the Switzerland-Sweden game, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer held a press conference at the MTS Centre to offer condolences to the families of the six Canadian soldiers who died Sunday in a roadside explosion in Afghanistan. More than 1,000 soldiers and their families from Shilo and 17th Wing military bases were provided with transportation and admission to two games at the 2007 IIHF World Women’s Championship as part of “Military Appreciation Day.”

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Switzerland: The Swiss are coming off two straight wins at the Worlds: a 1-0 victory over rival Germany in the Preliminary Round, and a decisive 5-1 win over China in the Playoff Round. They’re riding high and feeling confident, in large part to the strong play of netminder Florence Schelling. She has played all but nine minutes for the Swiss in the tournament, posting a .900 save percentage and making many big stops along the way. Without Schelling in net, the Swiss could have ended up in the Relegation Round battles, instead of having a shot at making the bronze medal game. Against China, they gave up more breakaways and odd-man rushes than they would have preferred. The defence will have to tighten up its play against the Swedes, who captured the silver medal at last year’s Olympics, and won’t make the same mistakes the Chinese made. Defenceman Ruth Kunzle had two helpers versus China, and will have to continue to lead the offence from her blueline position, especially on the power play. Offensively, the Swiss finally broke out against the Chinese, but it will be much harder to repeat that type of performance against the Swedes. Though Swedish Head Coach Peter Elander considers Daniela Diaz’s line to be one of the tops in the tournament (behind Canada’s Wickenheiser line and the USA’s Darwitz line), Diaz and her linemates, Kathrin Lehmann and Christine Meier, will have to deliver a superlative effort to get into the bronze medal game.

Sweden: In a tournament that has seen many blowouts, Sweden was the first team to reach double digits in goals, thrashing the Chinese 12-2. Perhaps upset about losing to the Finns 1-0 in overtime and missing out on automatically playing for a medal, the Swedes put the boots to the Chinese, and will look to do the same to the Swiss to get to the bronze medal game. Kim Martin has played every minute in net for the Swedes so far and has only allowed five goals in the tournament. What should concern Sweden, though, is that all but one of those goals has come in the third period or later, including the overtime goal Finland scored. A let-up against a Swiss team that never quits could be costly. Defensively, Elander is aware of the Diaz line, and he will probably put Gunilla Andersson and Ann-Louise Edstrand in charge of limiting their chances. After enjoying a four-point game versus China, Maria Rooth will again have to lead her team offensively. Tre Kronor may be able to take advantage of a Swiss team that is tied for the tournament lead in penalties and ranks third-last in penalty killing. It would be a significant upset if Sweden failed to secure a spot in the bronze medal game today.

Brant Batters