Sweden knock off Czechia, claim bronze at World Junior Hockey Championship
Published
Isak Rosen scored the game-winner for Sweden in a 3-1 victory over Czechia to take the bronze medal at the world junior men's hockey championship earlier on Saturday.
After Sweden's Fabian Lysell scored at 14:22 in the first period, Michael Gut pulled Czechia even with a power-play goal at 13:30 of the second.
But Rosen restored Sweden's lead less than two minutes later and Linus Sojodin added an insurance goal with four minutes remaining in the game.
Bronze wasn't the medal colour Rosen and his teammates wanted, but the Buffalo Sabres prospect was happy with his team's performance Saturday.
"You strive to win the last game," Rosen said. "Of course we wanted the gold, but better bronze than nothing."
Sweden's Jesper Wallstedt stopped 27 shots for the win. Czechia, formerly the Czech Republic, had 20 saves from Tomas Suchanek.
Sweden finished third in the tournament for the second time in three years after the same result in 2020 in Czechia.
The Czechs' last medal was bronze in 2005.