The Swedes had a good start beating host Russia 5-1 in the first game before facing archrival Finland. The teams exchanged goals in the first period with Sweden taking an early lead through an Emil Bernstrom goal, then Joona Koppanen and Jerry Turkulainen scored for Finland and the Swedes tied the game at two when Axel Fjallby Jonsson netted the puck with 22 seconds left.

The Finns again gained the lead 39 seconds into the second period with a Jesperi Kotkaniemi goal but the Swedes turned the direction. Again Fjallby Jonsson and Jacob Olofsson made it a 4-3 lead for the team in yellow-and-blue and Fabian Zetterlund made it a two-goal margin at 2:31 of the third frame. Jesse Ylonen brought Finland back within a goal just 35 seconds before the end of regulation time but Fjallby Jonsson completed his hat trick 26 seconds later.

The Swedes just needed at least one more point from the game against the Czechs and got three in a 4-3 win. Fredrik Karlstrom opened the scoring early in the middle period, the Czechs reacted with goals from Lukas Doudera and Daniel Kurovsky but Fabian Zetterlund tied it late in the period. Again Zetterlund scored midway through the third period to give Sweden the lead and Erik Brannstrom made it 4-2 late in the game. A last-minute goal from Tomas Havranek to cut the deficit didn’t change the outcome.

Russia recovered from the opening day loss with a 2-1 win against the Czechs thanks to Mikhail Mesheryakov’s overtime goal and blanked Finland 2-0 on the last day to take second place. The Czechs were third and had their only win in the first game, 3-2 against Finland thanks to an overtime goal from Radovan Pavlik.

Swiss win on home ice

Some of the nations ranked behind played the International Chablais Hockey Trophy that was won by the host nation Switzerland.

Neighbouring country Germany in the first game provided the toughest challenge to the Swiss in front of 1,648 fans in Monthey. Andre Heim and Marco Miranda made it a 2-0 lead after 25 minutes of play but the Germans found back into the game and tied it 3-3 late in the third period. Axel Simic scored the game-winning goal at 4:07 of overtime.

The Swiss won the tournament with two more one-goal victories beating Slovakia and Norway with the score of 4-3.

Germany, which currently plays in the Division I, suffered a 4-2 loss to Norway but then beat Slovakia 6-3 to earn a second-place finish.

Switzerland’s Simic led the tournament in scoring with five points (5+0). Slovak forwards Villiam Cacho and Vladimir Vybiral had four points (1+3) and German forward Tobias Eder was the second-best goal scorer of the event and had three points (3+0).

Belarus in shape

Recently promoted World Juniors participant Belarus was in shape at a Four Nations tournament in the Latvian port city of Ventspils that included fellow top-division country Denmark and Division I teams Austria and Latvia.

The Belarusians started strong, dominated Denmark with 45-10 shots and won the game 4-1. Alexander Lukashevich scored two goals for Belarus including the 1-0 and 3-0 markers. In the second game they blanked host Latvia 2-0 on goals from Alexander Skorenov and Yegor Sharangovich before sweeping Austria 10-2 on the last day with Nazar Anisimov scoring a hat trick. Denmark recovered from the opening day loss and beat Austria 3-2. Nikolaj Kragh was the only player to score in the deciding shootout. On the last day the Danes beat Latvia 2-0.

Austria earned a third-place finish winning its only game against Latvia, 4-1, while the host country remained without points. Austria’s Marco Rossi was the only player beside Anisimov to score three goals in the tournament.

Hungary surprises

The Hungarian U20 national team surprised against nations normally ranked better during a Four Nations Tournament in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. They started with a 3-2 win against France thanks to a late game winner from Zsolt Szalma before losing 5-4 in overtime to Italy after Gregorio Gios’ game-winner. But on the last day they beat host Slovenia 6-4 to claim tournament win after a 4-0 lead halfway through the game.

France had to settle for second place after winning the other two games, 3-1 against Slovenia and 4-1 against Italy. Slovenia was third getting its only win on the opening day, 4-1 against the last-ranked Italians.

France’s Jordan Bougro and Slovenia’s Rok Kapel led the tournament in scoring with four points (2+2) while Italy’s Kevin Fink was the top goal scorer (3+0).