Lina Ljungblom scored two goals, including the 100th goal at the Olympics in Sweden's history.
photo: Andrea Cardin/IIHF
Lina Ljungblom scored two goals to lead Sweden to a 4-1 win over Germany in the first game of the Olympics.
The Germans were back in the Olympics for the first time since 2014, meaning every player on the team was making her Olympics debut. In fact, both countries had to go through the qualifying process a year ago to earn a spot in Milan.
The Swedes had to defeat Denmark on the final day of their qualification tournament, 5-0, while the Germans eked out a 2-1 win over Hungary for their spot.
Sweden won the only previous meeting at the OIympics between the two nations, 4-0, in 2014.
Both teams have a day off for the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night and are back at it on Saturday. Germany starts the day against Japan at Rho, followed by Sweden-Italy at Santagiulia.
"I think we played pretty well," said assistant captain Sara Hjalmarsson. "There were a couple of minutes where we weren't at our best, but we're happy with the game. The Olympics is obviously special. It's been a lot of fun so far. They got one on the power play but we were better five on five and on our power play, and I think that's why we won."
"It's a dream come true," said German defender Carina Strobel. "The atmosphere was amazing, even though this wasn't the sort we wanted. We lost our game a little bit. We have to work as a team and get pucks to the net. There's a lot more media than a typical tournament at the Women's Worlds. But we have a lot of experience on our team, so I think that's going to help as we go on."
The Germans were on the scoreboard first, converting a power play at 8:30. Defender Katarina Jobst-Smith, who led all players with 25:34 of ice time, snapped a shot off the crossbar and in after Mira Jungaker failed to get the puck out. It was their first shot on goal in the game. They had a nice chance to make it 2-0 during a Sweden power play, but Franziska Feldmaier was checked off the puck by Jungaker.
Three minutes later, the Swedes tied it on two good plays from Lina Ljungblom. First, she won a faceoff in the Germany end and pushed her way to the front of the net. Then, when Sandra Abstreiter made a save but couldn’t corral the rebound, Ljungblom was there to whack it in. This was the 100th goal in Sweden’s women’s Olympic history.
Ljungblom scored her second of the game at 7:03 of the second in almost identical fashion to her first, banking in a rebound from the blue ice. Soon after, Celina Haider made a great rush to move right on goal before being stopped by Svensson Traff.
The Swedes doubled their lead in the final minute of the second on another power play. This time, Jungaker snapped a high shot over the shoulder of Abstreiter with just 39.9 seconds remaining on the clock, giving her team a little extra jump heading to the dressing room.
The Swedes made it 4-1 on the prettiest play of the day. Hilda Svensson drove down the left wing and watched as Thea Johansson drove to the goal. Johansson got in behind Ronja Hark and tipped a perfect pass from Svensson over the glove of Svensson Traff at 11:20.
The Germans were back in the Olympics for the first time since 2014, meaning every player on the team was making her Olympics debut. In fact, both countries had to go through the qualifying process a year ago to earn a spot in Milan.
The Swedes had to defeat Denmark on the final day of their qualification tournament, 5-0, while the Germans eked out a 2-1 win over Hungary for their spot.
Sweden won the only previous meeting at the OIympics between the two nations, 4-0, in 2014.
Both teams have a day off for the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night and are back at it on Saturday. Germany starts the day against Japan at Rho, followed by Sweden-Italy at Santagiulia.
"I think we played pretty well," said assistant captain Sara Hjalmarsson. "There were a couple of minutes where we weren't at our best, but we're happy with the game. The Olympics is obviously special. It's been a lot of fun so far. They got one on the power play but we were better five on five and on our power play, and I think that's why we won."
"It's a dream come true," said German defender Carina Strobel. "The atmosphere was amazing, even though this wasn't the sort we wanted. We lost our game a little bit. We have to work as a team and get pucks to the net. There's a lot more media than a typical tournament at the Women's Worlds. But we have a lot of experience on our team, so I think that's going to help as we go on."
The Germans were on the scoreboard first, converting a power play at 8:30. Defender Katarina Jobst-Smith, who led all players with 25:34 of ice time, snapped a shot off the crossbar and in after Mira Jungaker failed to get the puck out. It was their first shot on goal in the game. They had a nice chance to make it 2-0 during a Sweden power play, but Franziska Feldmaier was checked off the puck by Jungaker.
Three minutes later, the Swedes tied it on two good plays from Lina Ljungblom. First, she won a faceoff in the Germany end and pushed her way to the front of the net. Then, when Sandra Abstreiter made a save but couldn’t corral the rebound, Ljungblom was there to whack it in. This was the 100th goal in Sweden’s women’s Olympic history.
Ljungblom scored her second of the game at 7:03 of the second in almost identical fashion to her first, banking in a rebound from the blue ice. Soon after, Celina Haider made a great rush to move right on goal before being stopped by Svensson Traff.
The Swedes doubled their lead in the final minute of the second on another power play. This time, Jungaker snapped a high shot over the shoulder of Abstreiter with just 39.9 seconds remaining on the clock, giving her team a little extra jump heading to the dressing room.
The Swedes made it 4-1 on the prettiest play of the day. Hilda Svensson drove down the left wing and watched as Thea Johansson drove to the goal. Johansson got in behind Ronja Hark and tipped a perfect pass from Svensson over the glove of Svensson Traff at 11:20.
Sweden vs Germany - 2026 Women's Olympic Games
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