Photo: Aki Vuorinen
Thursday morning was opened with hard wind and snowfall. Early morning offered another goal-rich encounter, when Sweden and United States clashed.
Swedes got good start, when Pontus Vilen, William Arvidsson and Alexander Härndahl netted the ball in the opening minutes.
Sweden had control of the game and scored goals, but Americans had their moments. In the first three games Sweden had let in only one goal, but Americans scored twice. Nolan Haney and Nicholas Cerrato put the ball past Henrik Kjellson. However the final score 17-2 left little room for speculation. Best performers of Swedish team were William Arvidsson with five goals and Martin Landström with three goals and two assists.
Hungary and Netherlands were chasing after their first goals in the evening matchup. Both teams had visible support at the arena. Supporters were treated with action-packed match.
The Dutch scored three goals before Hungarians got their momentum. Dennis Pacsai and Linus Schellin delivered goals for Hungary, and suddenly match was one goal game.
Last minutes of first half proved to be the deciding moments. First Mikkel Hansen and then William Reuser put the ball past Hungarian goalkeeper Marton Herceg, making the score 5-2 for Dutch.
Final score 9-3 and win means that Netherlands has a chance to qualify for medal games. Place in the top four will be decided on Friday in the match between Netherlands and United States.
Match between Finland and Norway concluded Thursday night with great audience, as the official number was 1813 spectators. Finland did not disappoint the home crowd and took convincing win by final score 7-0.
Norwegian defence did well for first 20 minutes, when Finland struck first. Teemu Määttä’s shot after free stroke sailed beautifully past Norway’s goalkeeper Oliver Hereta. Topi Saukkonen soon doubled the Finnish lead from corner stroke and Kalle Lempinen celebrated Finland’s third goal.
At half time Finland was leading with six goals, thanks to Saukkonen’s second goal, Emil Fedorov and Tuukka Ässämäki.
On second half Finland concentrated to keep their defence tight. Tero Liimatainen scored the last goal of the game.
Friday is going to be big. Round-robin tournament’s winner will be decided between Finland and Sweden. Match is scheduled to start at 6 PM.
