Canadian players stand on the ice after the bronze medal match against Sweden at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, on May 26.Petr David Josek/The Associated Press
Canada will be leaving the world hockey championship empty-handed.
Sweden scored three unanswered goals in the third period to earn a 4-2 comeback win over Canada and claim bronze on Sunday. Canada was stunned by Switzerland in the semi-final on Saturday, falling 3-2 by shootout, leaving the Canadians to play for bronze.
“The really tough loss was last night because we wanted to be playing for a gold medal today, but we also wanted to win our last game and bring home a bronze medal,” forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “Today stings but the semi-final stings a lot too.”
“I had an unbelievable time with this group. After a month together, it is tough to be so close to playing in the gold medal game but losing in a shootout.”
Host Czechia defeated Switzerland 2-0 to strike gold later Sunday.
Carl Grundstrom, with two goals, Erik Karlsson and Marcus Johansson scored for Sweden. Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.
Dylan Cozens, with his tournament-leading ninth goal, and Dubois replied for Canada. Jordan Binnington stopped 29 shots.
Dubois scored 4:18 into the third period to give the Canadians a 2-1 edge, their first lead of the game after Grundstrom opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period.
Karlsson kick-started Sweden’s run at 9:35 before Grundstrom got in on the fun just over four minutes later. Johansson scored an empty-netter with five seconds left to seal the win.
“It was a little tough to get our game going today, but I thought we were rock solid in the second period,” Canada head coach Andre Tourigny said. “We could have handled our lead a little better and I feel like we backed off (Sweden) too much, and unfortunately we were not as good as we needed to be.”
“Our players worked hard all tournament, and they were very committed to winning and fought for each other. I have so much respect for all the guys in our room for the sacrifice they made to play in this tournament, and I am really proud of our team.”