2005-06 National Men's Under-18 Team

Canada 0 - Sweden 2

IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship
Preliminary Round
Saturday, April 15, 2006
19:45 (local)
Halmstad, SWE
Sannarpshallen

HALMSTAD, SWEDEN -- Team Canada suffered its first loss of the preliminary round of the 2006 Under 18 Championship on Saturday, running into a hot goaltender and losing to Sweden by the score of 2-0.

The game consisted of a lot of penalties (19 minors for Canada and 14 minors for Sweden) and a goaltender's battle at both ends of the ice. Canada started the game slow, not taking the body as it had done in past games.

Canada outshot Sweden in every period, 15:13 in the first, 16:7 in the second and 14:12 in the third, and outchanced the Swedes including getting stopped on three breakaways, two of which were while shorthanded.

Swedish goaltender Jhonas Enroth made numerous big glove saves, especially when Canada had the offensive pressure on, while Canada's Jonathan Bernier played solid once again for Canada, making 30 saves.

The score remained scoreless after the first two periods of play, as neither team managed to score on their opportunities. With 7:55 remaining the in third period, Sweden's Tony Lagerstrom broke the scoring silence with an even-strength goal, and then also added an empty net goal with 10 seconds remaining to take a 2-0 win and give him two goals on the night.

Canada (2-1) is tied atop Group B with Sweden (2-1) and Finland (2-0), which it finishes the round robin against on Monday. Both teams have important games coming up, the Canadians will play Finland (2-0-0), while Sweden will face Slovakia (1-0-2).

The top team in each of the two groups earns a semifinal berth while the second and third seeds must cross over to meet in the quarter-finals.

TSN, the official broadcaster of Hockey Canada will carry Canada's game on Monday versus Finland LIVE coast-to-coast at 10:00am ET / 7:00am PT.