Abrahamsson after Sweden JVM premiere: got the start we wanted

The junior crowns couldn’t have had a better start to this tournament

Of: Hans abrahamsson

Published: December 26, 2020 at 11:03 p.m.

Yes, he went on crutches for the first half of the match, then the Giant and the Giant showed the way.

When I sum up the premiere against the Czech Republic, it couldn’t have been much better.

The junior crowns got the start we wanted and will only grow in the tournament.

There were a lot of good things in this opening match. The junior crowns have finally come out of their quarantine and have now gone from training to playing matches.

No, it definitely didn’t go off the rails for the first 30 minutes.

But what did we really expect?

I mean, no one could have overlooked how tangled the Junior Crowns’ preparations have been. Not a single international match together for the entire season and seven days in quarantine in every hotel room before the premiere. Players, and no less leaders, who have fallen from right and left.

Anyone who has followed the Czech Republic at the JVM level knows that they can look as good as they want in one period, but that it is just as difficult to keep the game together for more than 60 minutes. It’s the go-it-so-go-it hockey that counts. Good in success, just as weak in adversity.

This edition was no exception.

On the contrary.

The key when facing the Czech Republic is to keep calm that sooner or later they expose themselves and lose the game. The only chance for the Czech Republic in this match was to get a big advantage and Hugo Alnefelt stopped it.

When then Albin Sundvik was able to make it 2-1 at nine minutes before half time, this was Sweden’s game.

In the end, it was a landslide 7-1 and Sweden’s 53rd consecutive win in group play.

Photo: JASON FRANSON / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Hugo Alnefelt is applauded after the victory.

Alnefelt’s mindless rescue

In addition to the Junior Crowns finally getting a game together, and taking a comfortable victory against perfectly acceptable opposition, there were many other things that were good with this premiere.

Like the goalkeeper’s game.

Hugo Alnefelt proved a year ago that he loves hot air. Now the verbal Stockholmer stood firm and confident when his outside players needed him most. Especially with a completely insane pick stop at 1-1 in the first period.

The team captain, Philip Broberg, was as majestic as he expected. The back giant was involved in all three goals in the winning streak in the intermission period. Both Alnefelt and Broberg play with such self-confidence and tightness that only the others can get hooked. These two have won gold before and have no other thought than to do it again.

Broberg’s back colleague Victor Söderström was already good a year ago and now appears to be even more dominant in the offensive game. He was clearly the one who played the most (almost 22 minutes) and also added three points.

We continue with positive responses.

Before the tournament, he wanted more offensive players to step up to relieve Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond.

And that was the best thing about tonight.

Not worried about Raymond / Holtz

Seven goals from seven different forwards, and then both Holtz and Raymond were scoreless.

It was a bunch of forwards who stepped up and proved they can produce at the JVM level, at least against the Czech Republic.

I can list large parts of the front lineup behind Raymond / Holtz. Sundsvik, Heineman, Costmar, Holmström and not least Elmer Söderblom. It is rare (or never) to see such a great player internationally, especially a Swede.

The giant Elmer Söderblom measures 202 (!) Centimeters and weighs 108 (!) Kilos and despite his huge body he has a lot of play in him. He has sometimes shown that in Frölunda and Söderblom he showed that when he was in powerplay he entered the club between his huge legs and played on the puck.

Now the Czech Republic is the Czech Republic. The United States and Russia, against whom the Junior Crowns end the group match, are something else entirely.

But the fact that players lower down the chain hierarchy get off to such a start and increase their self-confidence in no way affects their chances of doing so even against tougher opponents.

We must also remember that both Holtz and Raymond are also minors in this tournament. At the same time, they definitely have the talent to be leading players even against the best teams.

If you just keep calm it will relax for these two too, I’m not the least bit worried about that. Probably already against Austria at midnight on Monday.

I think it will be necessary for the junior crowns to win against the United States and Russia.

Published: December 26, 2020 at 11:03 p.m.

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