2011 IIHF World Hockey Championship: And The Gold Medal Goes To …..

The 2011 IIHF World Hockey Championship ends today as the medal round will start with the bronze and gold medal games today. There will be a new champion as the Czech Republic lost in the Semi-Finals and end up playing for bronze. After 15 days of games, Sweden and Finland are the two teams left standing that will battle for gold.

The Semi’s featured two great match-ups for the right to play for gold. In one semi-final, it was team Sweden versus the reigning champs, the Czech Republic. With the Czech expected to repeat as gold medalists as they iced an experienced veteran squad, the young Swedish team had other plans. Directing almost 50 shots at the Czech goal, Sweden was able to score five times as Swedish tender Viktor Fasth only allowed two to get by him. With the final score being 5-2 in favor of Sweden, the Czech will have to settle for a chance at bronze.

In the other semi-final, it saw team Russia square off against team Finland. With Russia favored to advance, Finland rode the heroics of young Finn, Mikael Granlund as he scored an amazing goal to knockoff the Russians. Check out his sweet goal below.

With the semi’s now in the books, the Medal Round has been set. Playing for bronze will be the Czech Republic versus team Russia. It was predicted at the start of this tournament that these two teams would be playing for a medal, just not the bronze medal. It is disappointing for both these teams to be playing for bronze instead of gold, but they can be satisfied as both will finish in the top four countries in the world.

The gold medal game will be a grudge match as these two countries have been long hated rivals. Sweden will face off against Finland in a Scandinavian battle for gold. I don’t think any team has a distinct advantage over the other as the two teams match up pretty evenly.

Here is the schedule for today’s medal round:

As for your Ottawa Senators representation in the medal round, Milan Michalek will try to earn a bronze after failing to beat the Swedes in the Semi’s. Michalek got an assist in the semi-final game to push his tournament total to three goals and five points. Ottawa’s two Swedish prospects will be representing the Sens in the gold medal game as Jakob Silfverberg and David Rundblad will suit up for Sweden versus Finland. Both prospects have a point each in the tournament and have a chance to earn a gold or silver medal.

Enjoy the medal games today and I’ll have a full recap of the tournament after the gold has been put around the champs’ neck.

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