4 replies to this topic

[Erik C.]

Semifinals

January 3, 2013
8:00 AM Eastern
Ufa Arena, Ufa, Russia

Television:

Coach: Roger Ronnberg

Team Roster

#	Player Name	Pos.	NHL Rights
8	Linus Arnesson	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
13	Viktor Arvidsson	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
5	Rasmus Bengtsson	Defense	Florida Panthers
11	Jeremy Boyce Rotevall	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
15	Sebastian Collberg	Forward	Montreal Canadiens
35	Oscar Dansk	Goalie	Columbus Blue Jackets
25	Jacob de la Rose	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
4	Christian Djoos	Defense	Washington Capitals
6	Emil Djuse	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
16	Filip Forsberg	Forward	Washingotn Capitals
17	William Karlsson	Forward	Anaheim Ducks
1	Joel Lassinantti	Goalie	2013 Draft Eligible
19	Elias Lindholm	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
30	Niklas Lundstrom	Goalie	St. Louis Blues
29	Emil Molin	Forward	Dallas Stars
7	Tom Nilsson	Defense	Toronto Maple Leafs
24	Rickard Rakell	Forward	Anaheim Ducks
23	Victor Rask	Forward	Carolina Hurricanes
27	Filip Sandberg	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
26	Nick Sorensen	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
9	Mikael Vikstrand	Defense	Ottawa Senators
10	Alexander Wennberg	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible

Coach: Mikhail Varnakov

Team Roster

#	Player Name	Pos.	NHL Rights
27	Kirill Dyakov	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
28	Yaroslav Dyblenko	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
25	Mikhail Grigorenko	Forward	Buffalo Sabres
21	Kirill Kapustin	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
19	Alexander Khokhlachev	Forward	Boston Bruins
29	Pavel Koledov	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
18	Yaroslav Kosov	Forward	Florida Panthers
16	Nikita Kucherov	Forward	Tampa Bay Lightning
20	Andrei Makarov	Goalie	Buffalo Sabres
22	Andrei Mironov	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
11	Yevgeni Mozer	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
9	Nikita Nesterov	Defense	Tampa Bay Lightning
15	Valeri Nichushkin	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
7	Artyom Sergeyev	Defense	Tampa Bay Lightning
8	Maxim Shalunov	Forward	Chicago Blackhawks
12	Andrei Sigaryov	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
17	Anton Slepyshev	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
14	Vladimir Tkachyov	Forward	2013 Draft Eligible
1	Igor Ustinski	Goalie	2013 Draft Eligible
30	Andrei Vasilevski	Goalie	Tampa Bay Lightning
10	Nail Yakupov	Forward	Edmonton Oilers
5	Albert Yarullin	Defense	2013 Draft Eligible
26	Danil Zharkov	Forward	Edmonton Oilers

[Craig Simpson]

Another OT game between these two, and Russia's second in two days.

[Xcal97]

Mild upset I guess. Definitely not the result you expected given the two semi-final games.

I really wish there was a better way of deciding games than the shootout. Continuous OT seems right to me, but difficult to do that in a short tournament with lots of back to backs.

[Erik C.]

Sweden gave up a 2-0 semi-final lead but beat Russia 3-2 in a shootout to march to its second straight World Junior final against the United States. Sebastian Collberg scored the lone shootout goal.

Collberg used a nice backhand deke to fool Russian goalie Andrei Vasilevski. The Frölunda Gothenburg winger also scored in the shootout in Sweden's 3-2 semi-final win over Finland last year.

"It means a lot to take [this accomplishment] with me to the final and have that confidence in my game," said Collberg.

The disappointed Russians will take on Canada for bronze on Saturday before the Sweden-U.S. final. The host nation missed a chance to win its first World U20 title on home ice since 1983 in Leningrad, with a team featuring the likes of Sergei Nemchinov and Ilya Byakin.

In regulation time, Elias Lindholm and Filip Forsberg scored for Sweden.

Andrei Mironov and Mikhail Grigorenko replied for Russia, which will have to regroup quickly under coach Mikhail Varnakov in search of bronze. No host team has won this tournament since Canada in 2009.

"We have to win this game now," said Russia's Danil Zharkov. "It's the second time we'll play [Canada] in the tournament. We have to get the bronze medal."

This was a rematch of last year’s gold medal game in Calgary, where Mika Zibanejad’s overtime goal spoiled a 57-save performance by Russian netminder Andrei Makarov and gave Sweden its first and only World Junior title since 1981 in West Germany.

Despite Russia's gallant effort in the second and third periods, Sweden was better-organized both offensively and defensively overall, and deserved to win again.

"I'm proud of my players," said Varnakov. "We outplayed them in two periods. But the game is the game and the shootout is a lottery, and in this lottery we lost."

From the IIHF site

[Bubba83]

Sucks to end a game like this in a shootout, I agree... But Russia really didn't deserve to be in the gold medal game after a rather poor showing in this tournament. They squeaked by so many teams up to this game too.