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05/19/13 06:05:00
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05/19 17:58 CDT Sweden wins world hockey title
Sweden wins world hockey title
By GARY PEACH
Associated Press
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Sweden became the first home team to win the world hockey
championships in 27 years, beating Switzerland 5-1 on Sunday for its ninth
title.
Vancouver Canucks star Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist, and Buffalo
Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves to help Sweden become the first team
to win the title on home ice since the Soviet Union in 1986. Switzerland earned
its first medal in 60 years.
"It was a tight game," Sedin said. "It could have gone either way, I felt. It
was lucky we got our first two goals pretty quickly after their first one.
After we scored our third, it felt pretty calm on the bench."
Simon Hjalmarrson, Philadelphia's Erik Gustafsson and Dallas' Loui Eriksson
also scored for Sweden. Roman Josi had the lone goal for Switzerland.
"It's an unbelievable feeling. You can't put it into words," New Jersey's
Henrik Tallinder said. "As soon as we got our legs and got that first goal, I
thought we controlled the game pretty well."
In the third-place game, the United States beat Finland 3-2 in a shootout for
its first medal in nine years.
The young Swiss team came out aggressively, opening the scoring in the fifth
minute after Josi skated in from the blue line and backhanded the puck past
Enroth.
But Sweden took over from there, scoring twice in the first period and using
the edge to dominate the game.
"We were slow out of the gates, but after the second goal I felt we had control
over the game," Tallinder said. "The Swiss haven't had many times they've been
down, so we could play their game against them."
Switzerland dominated throughout the tournament, winning all nine of its games
before the final.
"Right up until the end I thought it was a lot closer than it was," forward
Ryan Gardner said. "The score's not indicative of how hard we've worked."
In the bronze-medal game, Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk scored consecutive goals
in the shootout for the Americans.
"After I scored the first one, I was pretty confident and I wanted to go at it
one more time," Galchenyuk said. "We (coach Joe Sacco and Galchenyuk) kind of
looked at each other, and I was like: `I want to go,' and I'm happy that he let
me. When you win a game for your country ... it's unbelievable. It's probably
the happiest I've been in my life so far."
Nashville's Craig Smith and Colorado's Paul Stastny had first-period goals.
"It feels great," St. Louis forward T.J. Oshie said. "This is my fourth time
playing for Team USA, and I hadn't gotten a medal. Obviously, we wanted it to
be gold, but that's not going to take any excitement away from winning this."
John Gibson, a 19-year-old goalie for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario
Hockey League, made 36 saves.
"At the end there, Gibson was outstanding," Sacco said. "We had only two days
of preparation for this tournament and I thought our young group did a really
good job. I told them after the game that the most impressive thing was ... how
we came together as a group."
Gibson, from Pittsburgh, was drafted 39th overall by Anaheim in 2011.
"I don't know," Gibson said when asked about his future. "We're just going to
enjoy this for a bit and see what happens."
Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in the third period for Finland.
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