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Three Keys for the Three Crowns, Forsberg Gripes About Officials Assigned |
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Tre Kronor will be the slight underdog heading into tomorrow's gold medal game against Canada. Team Sweden has yet to play its "A" game for 60 minutes of hockey, although they got better and better as the semifinal game progressed against Finland and slammed the door with a one-goal lead in the third period.
Even if the Swedes had the likes of the injured Henrik Zetterberg, Henrik Sedin and Johan Franzén available, they would still face a severe challenge in attacking Canada's nearly airtight defense. The Canadians have allowed just three goals in the five games they've played to date.
In the semifinal game against Team USA, Canada won because they were stronger on the blueline and down the middle. The Canadians owned everything below the dots, both in the offensive and defensive zones. The U.S. mostly had one-and-done rushes. The Canadians controlled the walls, winning most of the battles and cycling the puck at will. They controlled the faceoff circles, winning 32 of 54 faceoffs (59.26%). In the meantime, every time the puck went back to one of the Canadian point men, Team USA held its breath. The Canadian point men are dangerous enough in an NHL-sized offensive zone. Move them several feet closer to the net, and they are lethal.
These are all things that Pär Mårts will have to prepare his team to face. It won't be easy. One advantage the Swedes have over Team USA is they are a little deeper on the blueline and the Americans did not a weapon the equal of Erik Karlsson to generate offense from the blueline.
At even strength, Canada is going to come at the Swedes with an aggressive forecheck early in the game. Puck management will be critical. Tre Kronor will have to avoid turnovers and keep players from getting on the wrong side of the puck; which is easier said than done. Canada has had trouble scoring goals in the tournament -- with many of the ones that have gone in being generated by defensemen Shea Weber and Drew Doughty -- but they could click with the gold medal on the line.
If tomorrow's game can be boiled down to three primary keys for the Three Crowns (Tre Kronor), these would be the three:
1. Strong game from the King: If Henrik Lundqvist walks off with tournament MVP honors, it means that the New York Rangers superstar netminder will have stepped up big in the gold medal game. For the most part, Lundqvist has been outstanding in the tournament. He let in a questionable goal yesterday to Finland's Olli Jokinen and had an average (not awful) game in the Swedes' sloppy win over Latvia. Otherwise, he has been lights out.
Plain and simple, Lundqvist needs to outplay Carey Price tomorrow. If he does, the Swedes stand a real solid chance of winning the gold. However, it's going to be tough to outdo what Team USA's Jonathan Quick did in the semifinals. Lundqvist can't do it all by himself. He's going to need at least two goals of support to work with tomorrow.
2. Win the special teams battle: I don't think there will be many even-strength scoring chances tomorrow -- it favors Canada if the teams trade off chances -- and the game may come down to special teams play.
Throughout the tourney, Sweden has relied heavily on the power play to generate offense. The Swedish power play has clicked at a fearsome 7-for-19 (36.84 percent) rate thus far. On the flip side, Canada tops the tourney on the penalty kill at 13-for-14 (92.86 percent). Beating the Canadian penalty killers and finding a way to get a puck or two past Carey Price will be a huge challenge that could make the critical difference in the game.
Against Team USA, the Canadians were very aggressive on the PK. Rather than laying back in their box, they pressured the puck at every opportunity and especially put pressure on the point men. The U.S. struggled to cope, and tended to get too stationary with no traffic in front of Price. The Swedes will need to do much better. Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson will be key players in accomplishing this.
Tre Kronor has historically been noted for its patience and discipline. That hasn't always been the case in the tournament. The Swedes have taken their share of undisciplined penalties, playing shorthanded 19 times through the semifinals (most of any team).
Penalty trouble could easily have been the Swedes' undoing against Finland but the penalty killers -- especially the likes of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Niklas Kronwall -- came up huge repeatedly. That included a lengthy 5-on-3 kill. Overall, the Swedes have killed off 17 of 19 penalties (89.47 percent).
3. Quick puck movement: Team USA did not have the puck very much against the Canadians. It will be crucial for the Swedes to make quick, smart decisions with the puck. Get the puck up the ice fast and make some intelligent pinches with puck support. Yesterday, in the short segments where the U.S. did those things, they generated some attack time. There wasn't nearly enough of it, however. The Swedes will need to do better.
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Today in Swedish national newspaper Aftonbladet, veteran journalist Mats Wennerholm wrote an article around a text he received from Peter Forsberg. Foppa griped about the fact that the gold medal game officials and officiating supervisors are all from North America.
The game will be worked by NHL referees Kelly Sutherland (Canada) and Brad Meier (USA-born but has lived in Canada) with NHL linesmen Derek Amell (Canada) and Greg Devorski (Canada). The substitute referee is NHL referee Kevin Pollock (Canada) and substitute linesmen is Mark Wheler (Canada).
"Such a (bleeping) joke," Forsberg texted Wennerholm. "Canadian officials in the finals, also the supervisors and reserves. Comedy at the highest level."
As much as I respect Forsberg, I do not approve of him casting aspersions on the impartiality and professionalism of the officials. I agree that there were other candidates who were worthy -- including Swedish former NHL referee Marcus Vinnerborg -- but I don't like the implication that there will be a built-in nationalistic bias from the guys in stripes.
Forsberg should know better than that. To their credit, when asked for comment, coach Pär Mårts and the Swedish players dismissed Foppa's criticism as unfounded.
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