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	TEAM LINE UPS
	EVENT SUMMARY

Niagara University, NY – A pair of goals less than four minutes apart in the first period and a superb goaltending performance by Robin Lehner propelled Sweden to a 2-0 victory over Russia in a fast-paced, physical contest.  With the win, Sweden improved their record to a perfect 2-0 at the midway point of the tournament’s preliminary round.

“The first 50 minutes we played right by the play book, shift by shift.  We lost that a bit by taking penalties which is something we need to improve, but overall we put hard pressure on their defense and closed the boards off”, commented Sweden head coach Roger Ronnberg following his team’s shutout victory.

Lehner, who plays for the Binghamton Senators of the AHL, stole the show, turning away all 30 Russian shots in his tournament debut.  His stellar effort between the pipes was highlighted by a flurry of point blank saves on two separate occasions, late in both the first and second period with his team on the penalty kill.  The Swedish netminder also stood tall on a close range shot in the opening minute of the middle frame, denying Russian forward Maxim Kitsyn who found himself all alone in the slot.
“He played amazing and was steady all game for us”, remarked defenseman Tim Erixon when asked about Lehner’s play.

Team Russia came out flying, playing with a chip on their shoulder after dropping their opening game to Canada.  The Swedes were able to weather the storm early with some help from Lehner, and slowly found their game and took control. 

The squad’s first tally of the night came at 10:49, when Anton Lander finished off a strong offensive zone shift for Sweden.  After picking up the puck on the left-wing boards, Lander made his way to the front of the net with a strong individual effort as he stick-handled nicely through traffic before beating Russian goaltender Dmitri Shikin with a backhand shot.

The Swedes extended their lead to 2-0 just 3:22 later, capitalizing on a neutral zone turnover by Russia.  Sweden’s Calle Jarnkrok broke in on a two-on-one rush and fed linemate Jesper Fasth with a cross-ice pass and Fasth deposited the puck into the near corner of the net.

Shikin played solid in the Russian crease, keeping the game within reach for his team throughout the night.  Shikin’s performance included an up-close save on Sweden’s Sebastian Wannstrom off the rush, as well as an acrobatic glove save in the second period off a one-timed blast by Adam Larsson on the point.  The Russian netminder finished with 35 saves.

Emotions ran high during the contest between these two pride-driven European squads, resulting in frequent skirmishes after the whistle.

With tonight’s loss, Russia falls to 0-2 overall thus far in the tournament, a hole which will not be easy to get out of.  The team was visibly frustrated, unable to cash-in despite numerous scoring opportunities on Lehner.  They were also unable to generate much momentum with the man-advantage, finishing 0-4 in the game.  When asked about the game tonight, Head Coach Valeri Bragin said, “The Swedish team is very good, and they capitalized on their chances better than we did, which was the main reason we didn’t win.”

Sweden played tonight without forward and assistant captain Gabriel Landeskog, whose status for the remainder of the tournament is unknown because of a lower-body injury.  Rickard Rakell took his place in the lineup.

Both teams return to action on December 30th at Dwyer Arena.  Sweden takes on the Czech Republic at 3 PM and Russia faces off against Norway at 7 PM.