Ice Hockey
The Swedish men's team suffered an early setback when it lost 5-0 to Russia, but wins over Kazakhstan, Latvia and the United States meant that the team was guaranteed a quarterfinal spot entering the final round-robin game with Slovakia. This game stirred up controversy, with head coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson suggesting that the team might not play for a win, in order to set up a quarterfinal matchup with underdog Switzerland. Ultimately, the Swedes did lose the game, though the IIHF supervisor "didn't see anything special". The team then picked up comfortable wins in the medal round, beating the Swiss 5-2 and the Czech Republic 7-3, setting up a gold medal final with local rivals Finland. The Swedes fell behind after the first period, but a pair of goals in the second left the game tied going into the final 20 minutes. Nicklas Lidström then scored early in the third, giving the Swedes a 3-2 lead that would hold, and giving the country its first Olympic hockey title since 1994. Thousands of fans greeted the victorious team upon their return from Turin, with many of the NHL players stopping in Stockholm before returning to their club teams.
The women's team managed to advance to the medal round in the Olympic tournament, but an 8-1 loss to Canada only seemed to enhance the perception that women's hockey had few competitive teams. In the semifinals, the Swedes faced the United States, and fell behind 2-0 early in the second period. However, the Swedes then rallied, scoring twice to tie the game, and shut down the favoured Americans, forcing a shootout to decide the game. Swedish goaltender Kim Martin stopped four American shooters, while Pernilla Winberg and Maria Rooth scored for Sweden. This was the first game in which any team other than Canada had beaten the United States, and made Sweden the first team outside the top two to advance to a major final. The final was not as close, with Canada pulling out to a 4-0 lead by the halfway mark. Still, earning silver medal was a significant accomplishment for the Swedish women.
Read more about this topic: Sweden At The 2006 Winter Olympics
Famous quotes containing the word ice:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)