Vancouver Canucks

Alex Edler and Team Sweden aiming for berth in gold-medal game at Worlds
May 20, 2017, 7:30 AM ET [49 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Its semifinal day here in Cologne at the World Championship.

Canada is now two wins away from becoming the first team to three-peat since the Czechs did it between 1999 and 2001, and the first Canadian group to pull it off since the early 1950s.

Here's my preview of today's Canada/Russia matchup. Game time is in just a few hours at 6:15 a.m. PT.




Christian Ehrhoff's German team gave an unbelievable effort in front of a rabid crowd in the quarterfinal. Canada outshot Germany 50-20, but Philipp Grubauer was outstanding in the opposing net and the Germans scored a shorthanded breakaway goal late in the third period to keep things interesting. Unlike in their loss against Switzerland, though, the Canadians tightened up defensively after Germany scored and were able to advance with the 2-1 win.

The Russians have been playing very well in this tournament, with their only hiccup coming in a 5-3 loss to the United States to close out the preliminary round. They'll be a tough opponent today.

The second semifinal features a rivalry almost as storied as Canada/Russia, as Sweden and Finland battle for the second slot in the gold-medal game.

After a so-so preliminary round, the Finns played clinical defense in dispatching the high-flying Americans in the quarterfinal, while Sweden beat Switzerland 3-1. William Nylander had the game-winning goal, and Alex Edler added the insurance marker at the 3:44 mark of the third period.




The goal was Edler's only tally of the tournament so far. He also has two assists and is a plus-five through eight games. Though he's nominally on the third pairing, he's now averaging 18:44 of ice time per game, ahead of teammates John Klingberg (18:39), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (18:06), Jonas Brodin (17:19) and extra defenseman Philip Holm (6:29). The Tampa Bay Lightning pairing of Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman is carrying the heaviest load on the Swedish blue line, with both players averaging well over 20 minutes a game.

Brian Hedger of NHL.com wrote this feature on Edler a few days ago.




Given how tightly he has bonded with the Sedins during his time in Vancouver, it's probably no surprise that he's enjoying this Swedish national team experience.

"It's a lot of fun," Edler said. "We're all from different places, but you come together, all Swedish guys, and I think that's the greatest thing about coming to the Swedish national team. You feel so close right away. I'm not surprised that they're all great guys. All Swedes are good."

I'm looking forward to seeing if Edler brings a strong physical presence to Team Sweden when they face off against Finland tonight.

Former Canuck Eddie Lack did get into one game in the tournament, shutting out Latvia 2-0 in the preliminary round in his first-ever game for the national team. But then King Henrik arrived.

Henrik Lundqvist's twin brother Joel is the captain of Team Sweden, and the pair haven't have many chances to play together in recent years, which probably explains why the New York Rangers goaltender came over after being eliminated by Ottawa in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

"My brother [Joel] is the captain there and I haven't played with him for 12 years," Lundqvist told the New York Rangers website. "Also the fact that we're not part of the Olympics. I see this as an opportunity to play for my country one more time and with my brother. I'm going to go there and try and finish really strong this season and I'm going to reflect."

It's unfortunate that young players like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews won't get their first opportunity to play in the Olympics in 2018 but as Lundqvist points out, his last hurrah has probably been taken away from him. He made his reputation and earned the biggest victory of his career when he backstopped Team Sweden to gold as an NHL rookie back in 2006 in Turin.

Lundqvist's best showing at the World Championship was a silver medal back in 2004, before he came over to the NHL. I don't get to see him play live very often, so I'm pretty excited to see him and the rest of Team Sweden for the first time in this tournament.

One other Canucks note from Worlds. After the Czech Republic was eliminated by Russia, more word came out on defenseman Jan Rutta, who was rumoured to be on the Canucks' radar.




I haven't laid eyes on Jim Benning, but I heard he was in Paris right through the quarterfinal.

I'll catch you up on the rest of the Canucks news from the other side of the pond tomorrow, before the medal games. Gotta get to the rink now—there's yet another press conference in half an hour's time.