Sweden, Czechia battle for bronze medal at World Juniors on TSN
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A day after disappointing defeats in the semifinals, Sweden and Czechia look to rebound to win and take home bronze medals at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Watch coverage of the World Junior gold-medal game LIVE Sunday evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT on TSN1, TSN4, TSN5, TSN.ca and the TSN App. You can also see the bronze-medal game LIVE at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT on TSN1, TSN4, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Czechia was overpowered by the United States 4-1 in their semifinal game after snatching victory from the Canadians in the quarter-finals in dramatic fashion.
Jakub Stancl has a tournament-leading six goals after adding the lone tally for Czechia in the loss to the United States.
This is Czechia's fourth trip to the bronze-medal game in the last eight tournaments, and a victory today would mark the nation's third-consecutive medal - a feat they've never accomplished in tournament history.
Sweden was upset in stunning fashion in overtime by Finland on Saturday, 4-3.
Axel Sandin Pellikka enters the bronze-medal game as the top scoring defenceman at the tournament, though he was held off the score sheet in the game against Finland.
This game will mark Sweden's fourth bronze-medal game in the last six years, where they claimed bronze in 2020 and 2022.
Sweden is the more decorated side of the two in the game, with a total of 21 medals versus 16 for the Czechs, and a victory over Czechia would secure their eighth bronze medal.
This is the second meeting between the two sides at the tournament, after Sweden topped Czechia 4-2 on New Years Eve to lock up the Group B title.
Though disappointment hangs over both sides after failing to advance to the final to play for gold, each team knows they still have something big to play for on Sunday.
"Try to reset as much as you can," Sweden forward Otto Stenberg said on Saturday. "We don't want to go home with fourth place."
"They're a very skilled team," Stancl said of Sweden. "They can play physically also. We don't want to leave Ottawa with nothing, so it's motivation to beat them. You always want to win a medal. Sadly, it's not going to be silver or gold, but we just want the bronze now."