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Comments and awards from Stockholm
Sweden won the LG Hockey Games and also got three players on the All Star Team
Sweden won the LG Hockey Games after beating Finland 4-0, the game was even and the score didn't really reflect the game. Read our live report for more info about the game.
Russia finished in second place, Finland in third and the Czechs were last without any points. The Czech coach Vladimir Ruzicka was disappointed. "Our goalies are too young and our defenders are not good enough", he said explaining his team's weak results. "We need several NHL defenders if we're going to perform at the World Championships", he continued and 17 goals behind in three games says all about the performance.
Jaroslav Bednar who has been very succesful in the Czech Extraliga was also a disappointment for the Czechs and according to him the Czech league isn't good enough. "Back home I can stop for a smoke during the games, everything is so much faster here on the international level", Bednar said about the tempo.
The Swedes were happier, the head coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson has been critisised for the bad results earlier but claimed he didn't see this as a revenge "I'm not reliefed, just very happy, it's a part of the job to get critic, I don't care so much about it", Gustafsson said after the game.
"We minimized the mistakes and made three good games, our box play worked as a clock work and our power play worked well", Gustafsson explained his team's success. He also gave a lot of codus to the more experienced defenders that he finally could ice in the national team.
The defensive forward Johan Andersson also said it is important to have the experience on the defense and also said, "It's fantastic to win when we play like this, we did a very good game against a good Finnish team".
Johan Holmquist was given the award as the best goalie of the tournament and said "It was very nice to win at home ice, I didn't did a very good game against Russia but today I'm pleased". Coach Gustafsson also stated "Holmquist is Sweden's number one and will be so for the reminder of the season if we don't get anyone over from NHL".
Directorate Awards
Best goalkeeper: Johan Holmquist, Sweden
Best defender: Kenny Jönsson, Sweden
Best forward: Niko Kapanen, Finland
Media All Star Team
GK: Johan Holmquist, Sweden
D: Janne Niinimaa, Finland
D: Kenny Jönsson, Sweden
F: Niko Kapanen, Finland
F: Maksim Rybin, Russia
F: Mattias Weinhandl, Sweden
Story added on 8th February 2009 at 19:18 GMT
Story submitted by: Fredrik Pålsson.
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