Welcome back to the Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall here in Norway! Here is the recap of the semifinal round of the playoffs for the S75 IIHF Tournament!

Canada 5 – Ireland 1
This game was close for the first period, even with an early goal from Jack St. Clair. The game really got away from the Irish following a duo of power play goals for the Canadians by Ricky Koivu and Eggward Elric in the second period with Paul Koivu burying another. The Canadians had a final insurance goal from Bastien Primeau 24 seconds into the third period, while Ireland’s sole goal came from Peter Tingle who sensed that the team needed something to hang their hats on. Nathaniel Barca is the standout player of the game with 4 assists while Antoinne Dionne stopped 27 shots. The shots were even in this game with 28 apiece, but the Irish could not get out of their way with 6 penalties that resulted in two Canadian goals. The Canadians killed their 3 penalties. Ireland will be playing for a medal for the first time since S71, where they took the gold, while Canada finds itself back in the finals for the first time since S69, when they defeated SWEDEN to win the gold medal. Will history repeat itself?

Sweden 5 – France 2
Another close early game, we saw Tomas Lind put one away for the Swedes early in the first period and despite a healthy number of penalties in the second period, there was no more scoring until the third, when seemingly all hell broke loose (especially in the later stages). Dave Heinrich scored 99 seconds into the period and the high shot counts of the Swedes made it seem like that could be it. Instead, the French buried a goal by Oliver Castillon. Luca Pane of France would then commit a very meaningful penalty as Aleksi Kettu would score shorthanded to tie the game for France, but later on that same penalty, Melvin Majestik-Moose would score the game winner. Despite a fierce fight, the Swedes would hit two empty nets with M’Baku Oloburi and Matsmith Soderberg-Tremblay being the shooters. M’Baku Oloburi was the first star while the shots were 38-26 in the Swedish favor and the powerplays were 3-2 also in the Swedish favor. France will go to the bronze medal game to face Ireland and the last time the French were in the bronze medal game, they lost to Sweden in S72. Sweden meanwhile will be seeking their first gold medal after reaching the finals for the first time since S70 after a few bronze medals.

The Medal Round will begin tomorrow, with Ireland and France facing off to try and get a compensatory bronze medal and the battle for the gold between Canada and Sweden!


WC: 465