WCOH Game 9: NORTH AMERICA VS SWEDEN

Team North America lost a heartbreaker to Russia in their previous game, completely outshooting and outchancing Ovechkin and pals in the final frame only to come up one goal short. The upstart young stars team has been full value so far this tournament, providing entertaining, high-octane hockey that puts their opponents on their heels. 

The kids face a stiff test in Team Sweden today, however. The Swede’s roster is filled with NHL stars, both of the grizzled vet and young star variety. Sweden’s blueline is especially imposing, featuring Erik Karlsson, Hampus Lindholm, Victor Hedman, Oliver Ekman-Larrson and Anton Stralman. 

Team North America started to look like a Cinderella story in the making after an impressive start to the tournament. Can they get past Sweden today or does the fairy tale end?

Auston Matthews – Connor McDavid – Mark Scheifele

Jonathan Droiun – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Nathan MacKinnon

Johnny Gaudreau – Jack Eichel – Dylan Larkin

Vincent Trochek – Sean Couturier – Brandon Saad

Morgan Reilly – Colton Parayako

Shayne Gostisbehere – Seth Jones

Ryan Murray – Jacob Trouba

John Gibson is expected to start with Matt Murray backing him up.

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Loui Eriksson

Filip Forsberg – Niklas Backstrom – Patric Honqvist

Gabriel Landeskog – Patrick Berglund – Carl Soderberg

Jakob Silfverberg – Markus Kruger – Carl Hagelin

NIklas Hjalmarsson – Erik Karlsson

Hampus Lindholm – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman

Henrik Lundqvist to likely start.

Johnny Gaudreau was MAD at the end of the NA-Russia contest. The Flames sniper narrowly missed an opportunity to tie the game in the dying seconds, causing him to storm off the ice and into the dressing room. He’s small, but Gaudreau hates to lose and is likely to be motivated to put in a big performance today.

PE Bellemare currently has two points for the Swedish team, but there’s a chance you’ve never really heard of the 31-year old left winger. He played in the Swedish Elite League until 2013 for Skilleftea AIK before joining the Flyers in 2014. 

Only Canada has scored more than Team NA through two games in the tournament so far (10 GF vs 7 GF). The youngster’s high octane offense meets the Swedes stingy defense. Through two games, Sweden has surrendered just a single goal against. What prevails – the unstoppable force or the immovable object?