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Czechs soar over Sweden in hockey quarterfinal game

Milan Hejduk scored two goals and the Czech Republic routed Sweden 6-1 Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the World Cup of Hockey.

The Czechs, who finished third in the four-team European pool play, will face the winner between Canada and Slovakia in the semifinals when the tournament moves to North America this weekend.

Martin Straka, Martin Havlat, Marek Zidlicky and Radek Dvorak also scored for the Czechs, who led 5-0 before the Swedes tallied short-handed late in the third period.

The Czechs neutralized the Swedes' home-ice advantage by taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. Sweden managed only four shots on goalie Tomas Vokoun in the opening session, half of them during the opening minutes.

The Czechs started the tournament with losses at Finland (4-0) and Sweden (4-3), but scored three third-period goals against the Swedes, and then trounced Germany 7-2 in the round-robin finale in Prague.

"It was an unbelievable game, and I'm very glad our guys showed what they can do," said Vladimir Ruzicka, who replaced Ivan Hlinka as head coach after the former Pittsburgh Penguins coach died in an automobile accident in the Czech Republic on the eve of the tournament.

"They played with a lot of heart, and really showed the true face of this team."

For Sweden, which lost in overtime to Canada in the semifinals of the inaugural World Cup in 1996, it was one of the most bitter setbacks in international hockey. It came after it lost the final at the past two World Championships and 2 1/2 years since being upset by Belarus in the Olympic quarterfinals.

Going into the quarterfinals, Sweden had scored a tournament-leading 14 goals and Fredrik Modin, who helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup last season, captain Mats Sundin and Daniel Alfredsson, were the top three scorers during the first round.

The Swedes' special teams, which converted eight of 20 power-play opportunities against Germany, the Czechs and Finland in the first round, failed to score on any of its four power-play chances Tuesday.

Markus Naslund, the North American National Hockey League's top goal scorer the last two seasons with Vancouver, was held goalless in four games.

Peter Forsberg, the 2003 NHL most valuable player award winner with the Colorado Avalanche, also disappointed, hampered following stomach muscle surgery last month.

"They were a lot better," Forsberg said. "They were stronger in the neutral zone and always dangerous on the counter-attack."

Sundin agreed.

"They were better on everything," the Toronto captain said. "They had better legs, they were better mentally and they fully deserved the win."

The first two goals came after Swedish mistakes on the blue line.

Straka put the Czechs ahead on a two-on-one, skating in unchecked and beating goalie Mikael Tellqvist. Havlat scored into an open net after Swedish defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson missed a pass in his end.

Another breakaway led to the third Czech goal, triggering boos from many of the fans at sold-out Globe Arena. After the Swedes lost the puck in the offensive end, Zidlicky finished a two-on-one by roofing a wrist shot past Tellqvist late in the second period.

Dvorak put the game away when he made it 4-0 at 8:17 of the third period. Hedjuk scored his first before Tomas Holmstrom scored short-handed for Sweden two minutes later.
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