EDMONTON –
Isak Rosen scored Sweden’s decisive goal in a 3-1 win against the Czech Republic and secured the bronze medal at the Ice Hockey World Junior Championships on Saturday.
After the Swede Fabian Lysell scored in the first third to make it 14:22, Michael Gut from the Czech Republic equalized with a powerplay goal to make it 13:30 in the second.
But Rosen restored Sweden’s lead less than two minutes later and Linus Sojodin added an insurance goal four minutes from time.
Bronze wasn’t the medal color Rosen and his teammates wanted, but the Buffalo Sabers contender was pleased with his team’s performance on Saturday.
“You strive to win the last game,” Rosen said. “Of course we wanted gold, but bronze is better than nothing.”
Sweden’s Jesper Wallstedt stopped 27 shots for the win. Czech Republic, formerly Czechia, had 20 saves by Tomas Suchanek.
Sweden finished third in the tournament for the second time in three years after the same result in Czech Republic 2020.
The Czechs’ last medal was bronze in 2005.
The hosts, Canada (6-0-0), faced Finland (5-1-0) in the gold medal game later on Saturday.
Canada doubled the Finns in the preliminary round with 6:3.
Canada has won 18 junior world golds, most recently in 2020.
Finland have been the best team five times, most recently in 2019 when Vancouver and Victoria were co-hosts.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 19, 2022.