Sweden bites semi-final defeat hard. The Czech team was helped by the referees, we were not allowed to win, sounds from the north of Europe

After 14 years, the Czech Republic will play for gold at the World Cup. In the semi-final, they absolutely broke Sweden, beating them 7:3. While the players and the Tre Kronor management team accepted the defeat, the situation is a bit different in the Scandinavian country.

Sunday night marks the end of the hockey holiday in the Czech Republic. The home team is already assured of a medal. At 20:20 they will take on Switzerland for the gold, which would be a wonderful ending. However, there is outrage in Scandinavia.

Sweden has come to the championship with one goal – to win gold. This was matched by the quality of the roster, which included 17 NHL stars. The Norse were dominant in the group stage, but struggled in the quarter-finals against Finland, whom they beat and were better in the game.

They entered the game against the Czech Republic as the favourite. They looked very good in the first period, but the home team kept up with them. But in the second period the bread started to break, or rather the stars of Tre Kronor started to break, as they could not resist the Czech aggressiveness, combativeness and desire to win.

Nothing changed in the third act. Radim Rulík’s teammates went on to win 7:3. At least as far as the players and the management team of the national team were concerned. But the fans and the local media are not playing with it.

Sweden complains about the referees

The referees in general did not give their best performance in the Czech Republic vs Sweden match. They made several mistakes. But one in particular seems to have been decisive – an unpunished foul by Jan Rutta, who elbowed down Isac Lundeström, for which the Czech defender was suspended and will not play the final.

Had the referees noticed the foul, Sweden would most likely have had a five-minute power play with the defenseman getting a penalty for the rest of the game. At that moment Rulík’s team was leading by two goals. During the power play, he could have reduced, equalised, even turned it around. Instead, he scored shortly afterwards and lost by three goals at once (2:5).

The referees then, as if to compensate for the mistake, whistled some fouls that were not fouls.

“The referees stood in the way of us reaching the final,” writes, for example, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “The three crowns came crashing down like a house of cards,” that media outlet also said. “Saturday nightmare. This is not how a hockey year should have ended,” reads the Expressen.

But the performance of the referees is also being discussed on social media. Some people are upset that the referee helped one of the Czech Republic’s goals by deflecting the puck. “I don’t like to complain about the referees, but this game is not fun to watch anymore. Sweden is not allowed to win,” one fan is clear.

Source: IIHF, Aftonbladet, Expressen, X