Swedes end group stage with perfect record

Sweden and Switzerland completed their group stage campaigns with a dead rubber in Breclav. The Swedes had already booked their place in the semi-finals with a thumping win against the group hosts last night, a result which also put Switzerland mathematically out of the gold medal race.

The Swiss were, however, in search of their first points of the tournament, and started brightly against the fast-skating Scandinavians. Sandro Schmid gave the Swiss the lead with only 3:32 gone, slapping home at the far post after a nice pass from Geremi Gerber. Adam Ginning got the Swedes level just over a minute later though, the defenceman given far too much time and room on the puck to wrist home from the top of the circle. With 8:23 played the Swedes had completed the turnaround entirely - poor play from the Swiss saw them fail to clear their zone, Jonatan Berggren the beneficiary of a pass out in front to light the lamp from close range.

Samuel Fagemo gave Sweden the best possible start to the middle period, a nice wrister with 21:39 on the board as he skated in alone. Filip Hallander made it 4-1 at 33:29, a goalmouth scramble ensuing and the Timra IK forward was able to poke home. Switzerland, to their credit, did not give up, and were rewarded with a goal 47 seconds later. An odd-man rush for the Swiss resulting in Mathieu Vouillamoz scoring on the one-timer to cut the score down to 4-2.

No goals in the final period were to follow - however, the Swiss did come close on a couple of power plays. They also pulled the goalie out to try and get back in the game late on, but a minor penalty saw the Swedes go on the man advantage instead and control the puck for the remainder of the game.