photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Matt Zambonin
Seven consecutive goals guided Sweden to 8-1 win over China on Friday at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship in Utica, New York.
Sweden's dominance was evident from the moment the puck dropped on the ice. The team opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period. HIlda Svensson came off the rush and launched a wrist shot at the middle of the ice. The puck sailed past Chinese goaltender Jiahui Zhan and into the left side of the net for the goal.
Svensson would net her second goal 58 seconds later on the powerplay. The forward blasted the puck into the net to give Sweden a two goal lead.
The team would strengthen their lead as Lina Ljungbolm swung around the backdoor side and went top shelf on Zhan for the score at 12:33 of the first period.
With 2:14 remaining in the period, defender Paula Bergstrom shot the puck towards the net from the point. Felizia Wikner Zienkiewicz tipped in the puck from ther front of the net for the score.
The Swedes would continue to pile on goals in the second period despite facing a different goaltender. China pulled Zhan in favour of Yuging Wang.
Only 49 seconds into the period, Sofie Lundin's quickly released the puck to go top shelf on Wang to extend Sweden's lead. Then 17 seconds later, Josefin Bouveng tallied a marker for the Swedes. That was not all for Sweden as 1:44 later, Hanna Olsson launches the puck past Wang for a score.
China got on the scoreboard at 3:46 of the second period as Minghui Kong scored on a breakaway.
Ljungbolm walked into the Chinese zone and shot the puck, which Wang stopped it from going into the net. However, Sara Hjalmarsson picked up the rebound and beat Wang for the goal.
After the flood of goals in the first two periods, the last 20 minutes was more quieter. It was a scoreless third period.
Svensson led Sweden with a pair of goals and an assist in the win.
"I think it's really good and it's important that we score level goals," Svensson says. "I feel like we can score. It's feels good to score it and I was just trying to shoot on the net and it went in. I think every line today was creating chances, so that's really good for the upcoming games."
Bergstrom had three assists and played a key role anchoring the defensive core.
"The defensive plays are really important, and especially in a game like this, you just have to stay consistent and not back off," she says. "It's staying consistent and taking pride in putting the defence in place."
For China, the goaltending duo of Zhan and Wang faced 56 shots on goal.
Sweden hopes to keep their unbeaten record intact in Group B as the team squares off against Japan on Sundary April 7th.
China came in hoping their momentum from Thursday's 3-2 shootout win over Japan would carry to Friday's matchup against Sweden.
"Sweden is a good hockey team and I think we were a little bit tired from the Japan win yesterday, so that showed a little bit early in the game," China's head coach Scott Spencer says. "We knew that Japan, Sweden would be the two toughest in our pool, and they showed it; they are a good hockey team."
Spencer added that despite the loss, the team can take away some positives from their play in Group B so far.
"Our goal was to try to and get maybe two points out of the first two games and we were able to do that yesterday," he says. "We didn't like the result from today but we accomplished kind of what we wanted to do with getting two points out of these first two. It is what it is, but cut it off and move on to the next."
China will look to get back into the win column when they face Denmark on Sunday April 7th.
Sweden's dominance was evident from the moment the puck dropped on the ice. The team opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period. HIlda Svensson came off the rush and launched a wrist shot at the middle of the ice. The puck sailed past Chinese goaltender Jiahui Zhan and into the left side of the net for the goal.
Svensson would net her second goal 58 seconds later on the powerplay. The forward blasted the puck into the net to give Sweden a two goal lead.
The team would strengthen their lead as Lina Ljungbolm swung around the backdoor side and went top shelf on Zhan for the score at 12:33 of the first period.
With 2:14 remaining in the period, defender Paula Bergstrom shot the puck towards the net from the point. Felizia Wikner Zienkiewicz tipped in the puck from ther front of the net for the score.
The Swedes would continue to pile on goals in the second period despite facing a different goaltender. China pulled Zhan in favour of Yuging Wang.
Only 49 seconds into the period, Sofie Lundin's quickly released the puck to go top shelf on Wang to extend Sweden's lead. Then 17 seconds later, Josefin Bouveng tallied a marker for the Swedes. That was not all for Sweden as 1:44 later, Hanna Olsson launches the puck past Wang for a score.
China got on the scoreboard at 3:46 of the second period as Minghui Kong scored on a breakaway.
Ljungbolm walked into the Chinese zone and shot the puck, which Wang stopped it from going into the net. However, Sara Hjalmarsson picked up the rebound and beat Wang for the goal.
After the flood of goals in the first two periods, the last 20 minutes was more quieter. It was a scoreless third period.
Svensson led Sweden with a pair of goals and an assist in the win.
"I think it's really good and it's important that we score level goals," Svensson says. "I feel like we can score. It's feels good to score it and I was just trying to shoot on the net and it went in. I think every line today was creating chances, so that's really good for the upcoming games."
Bergstrom had three assists and played a key role anchoring the defensive core.
"The defensive plays are really important, and especially in a game like this, you just have to stay consistent and not back off," she says. "It's staying consistent and taking pride in putting the defence in place."
For China, the goaltending duo of Zhan and Wang faced 56 shots on goal.
Sweden hopes to keep their unbeaten record intact in Group B as the team squares off against Japan on Sundary April 7th.
China came in hoping their momentum from Thursday's 3-2 shootout win over Japan would carry to Friday's matchup against Sweden.
"Sweden is a good hockey team and I think we were a little bit tired from the Japan win yesterday, so that showed a little bit early in the game," China's head coach Scott Spencer says. "We knew that Japan, Sweden would be the two toughest in our pool, and they showed it; they are a good hockey team."
Spencer added that despite the loss, the team can take away some positives from their play in Group B so far.
"Our goal was to try to and get maybe two points out of the first two games and we were able to do that yesterday," he says. "We didn't like the result from today but we accomplished kind of what we wanted to do with getting two points out of these first two. It is what it is, but cut it off and move on to the next."
China will look to get back into the win column when they face Denmark on Sunday April 7th.