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Calgary Flames at World Championships: Semi-finals

By Ramina Shlah

United States' Anders Lee falls down next to Sweden's Mikael Backlund (L) during the semifinal match Sweden vs USA of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 19, 2018. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
United States' Anders Lee falls down next to Sweden's Mikael Backlund (L) during the semifinal match Sweden vs USA of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 19, 2018. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Three of the four Calgary Flames members made it to the semi-finals at the World Championship. Only one was quite successful.

The World Championships are almost over, meaning there won’t be any more hockey for any Calgary Flames members for a while. At the quarter-finals, three of the four members made it through to the semis: Bill Peters coaching Team Canada, Mikael Backlund captaining Team Sweden, and Johnny Gaudreau for Team USA.

Only one game was quite successful.

Sweden and USA played first in the morning (for my time zone). It was a dominating performance from Sweden, winning the game 6-0. Mikael Backlund had three primary assists. At one point in the game, when Sweden was up only 1-0 in the second period, USA went on the powerplay with a chance to tie it up. Sweden went the other way and scored a short-handed goal. Gaudreau then took a slashing penalty (he hasn’t been too disciplined in this tournament), to which Sweden scored a powerplay goal. They scored their fourth goal just 11 seconds later. That was three goals for Sweden in 3:07.

After the game, Backlund was awarded a top three player for Sweden at the tournament!

Later, it was Bill Peters for Canada and Switzerland fighting for that other spot in the Gold Medal game. To everyone’s surprise, it was Switzerland who came out on top. It was a close game, the Swiss winning 3-2, but it was incredibly disappointing to Canada. However, on the bright side, this is great for the game in Switzerland.

Canada came close and they overall had a great game, but again, their goaltending was their downfall, just like the rest of this tournament. Darcy Kuemper let in three goals on just 17 shots while Leonardo Genoni for Switzerland had to make 43 saves. This was the first time in five years that Canada didn’t make it to the Gold medal game.

Next: Flames at World Championship: Quarter-finals

Looks like it’ll be Canada and USA for Bronze and Sweden and Switzerland for gold. Will Sweden win their second consecutive title?

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