Segment 5: Ryan and Michael predict the medallists, relegation battlers, MVP, top forward, top defenseman and top goaltender. The 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden until Jan. 5, 2024. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzMTE5NDYxNDA0NzgwMDk5/2024-iihf-wjc_1.jpg] The 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden until Jan. 5, 2024. GOTHENBURG, SWE - Usually when a team shoots from the outside, they fail to win. But Sweden found a Death Star-esque flaw in Czech goalie Michael Hrabal (ARI) in the semifinal, scoring their first three goals on point shots that eluded the big netminder one way or another. The end result was a 5-2 Sweden win in front of a raucous home crowd. While winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki tallied the third goal, the first two Swedish tallies came from their defense corps, which overall, has been a strength all tournament - as expected. Theo Lindstein (STL) continued his breakout performance with a goal, while Axel Sandin-Pellikka (DET) got in on the fun as well. But it was the versatility of the whole unit that really drove the Swedes on the day: Elias Pettersson (VAN) was physical and staunch defensively, while Elias Salomonsson (WPG) moved pucks effectively out of the zone. Give the Czechs full marks once again; they did not go quietly. Tomas Cibulka and Matyas Melovsky tallied for the underdogs and early on in the game, Czechia looked like the better team. That structure they tout helped them dominate zone time in the first period and even with Hrabal struggling at times (he also made some excellent saves to be fair), the game was tight well into the third period. Sweden, on the other hand, looked nervous out of the gates - completely understandable for a bunch of teens playing in front of a very partisan home crowd. This game could have been very different had Lindstein and Sandin-Pellikka not tagged Hrabal for goals for a 2-1 lead. But they held on throughout, until a breakaway goal by Noah Ostlund (BUF) with eight minutes left in the third truly salted things away. Lekkerimaki added his second of the game shortly after to truly put things out of reach. Now the Swedes move on to play for gold, something the country shockingly hasn't clinched since Mika Zibanejad and the 2012 edition. Nothing is guaranteed and they'll have to play even better in the final than they did today, but they have the opportunity - and that's all you can ask for from one of the tournament faves at this point.
