Norway, Sweden claim wins at worlds

RIGA, Latvia — Norway stunned Canada 3-2 in a shootout and handed the favourite a second straight defeat at the Ice Hockey World Championship as Sweden recovered from a goal down to defeat Denmark 4-1..

It was only Canada´s second loss to Norway in tournament history; the other was in 2000.

Thomas Olsen converted the decisive shootout goal for Norway.

Canada pulled goaltender Joel Hofer for an extra attacker when its was 2-1 down and Lawson Crouse tied it at 2 with 12 seconds remaining in regulation.

“[Norway] plays well defensively, and we knew that going into the game,” said Canada head coach Andre Tourigny.

“We did not play fast enough to get on the inside on them, and against a team like that you need to attack the inside of the ice to create scoring chances,” Tourigny added.

Forwards Andreas Martinsen and Sondre Olden scored the goals for Norway in regulation play, while forwards Milan Lucic and Lawson Crouse, who scored with 12 seconds remaining to force overtime, replied for Canada.

Goalie Jonas Arntzen made 31 saves in the Norwegian net, and Joel Hofer turned away 21 shots for Canada.

Canada has now suffered two straight defeats after losing 3-2 in regulation to Group B leader Switzerland on Saturday. Canada remains in third place in the group, one point behind Czechia.

“Adversity is part of this tournament. If you cannot overcome adversity, you will not have a good chance of winning,” said Tourigny.

“We are going through some adversity right now, which will help build character among our team.”

Norway jumped from seventh to sixth with the shootout win, but won’t advance to the knockout round, which begins Thursday.

Martinsen opened the scoring at 9:45 in the first period, and Olden doubled Norway’s lead less than two minutes into the second frame.

Earlier, Norway built a two-goal advantage through Andreas Martinsen and Sondre Olden. Canada answered thanks to Milan Lucic midway through the middle period.

Canada also lost to Switzerland 3-2 Saturday, and remained third in Group B, one point behind the Czech Republic. Norway was sixth and had no chance of advancing to the quarter-finals.

In the Finnish city of Tampere, Sweden recovered from a goal down to defeat Denmark 4-1.

Nicklas Jensen put Denmark ahead but Sweden replied with four straight goals from Dennis Everberg, Andre Petersson, Lucas Raymond and Carl Grundstrom.

Sweden remained second in Group A, trailing leader the United States by a point. Denmark was fifth.

Later Monday, Austria prevailed in a shootout over Hungary 4-3 in a match of the two bottom teams in Group A. As a result, Hungary will be relegated after one season in the top division.

Also, Kazakhstan defeated Slovenia 4-3 in Group B.