Sweden Haults Canada 4-2 In Final Preliminary Game

Sweden rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to come back and beat Canada 4-2 in the final game of the preliminary round of the Under 18 Championships in Germany. Both teams finished with a 3-1-0 record but Sweden takes top spot in Group B by virtue of their +12 goal differential compared to Canada's +9.

Nick Cousins opened the scoring for Canada with an unassisted goal at 12:59 of the first period when he scored his third of the tournament to put Canada up 1-0. That would be the only scoring of the period. Malcolm Subban would make 9 saves for Canada in the period while Swedish netminder Nicklas Lundstrom stopped 5 of 6. Both teams were o for 2 on the powerplay.

There would be no scoring in the second period. Sweden came on stronger in the period but Subban was able to keep them at bay making 13 saves. Lundstrom was equal to the task making 10 for Sweden. Both teams were once again 0 for 2 on the powerplay.

Early in the third, at 1:47 Ryan Murphy put Canada up 2-0 with an unassisted marker. It was Murphy's third of the tournament. It took just 17 seconds for Sweden to get that back as Oscar Klefbom set up Linus Froberg to cut the lead in half. At 14:14 Sweden would pull even when Gustav Bjorklund scored from Filip Forsberg.

It took just another 38 seconds after Sweden tied it to take the lead when Klefbom scored a goal of his own unassisted to put Sweden up to stay. They would add an empty net goal to close out the scoring.

By finishing atop the Group B standings Sweden earned a bye into the semi finals while Canada will be forced to play a quarter final match on Thursday versus host Germany. The game will be televised on TSN and RDS in Canada.