Sweden's Jacob de la Rose (#95) fires home his second goal of the game against Slovenia.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
How did you spend your birthday? Jacob de la Rose got a few people around to his home arena and scored twice to help Sweden to an emphatic 6-0 win over Slovenia.
The Swedish forward turned 31 today and marked the occasion with the second goal in his country’s win over Slovenia.
With a birthday in May, it’s not unusual to have World Championship action on the big day – and de la Rose has had some memorable gifts at past editions of this tournament.
“It’s happened three times,” he said. “The first one, we won the final on my birthday, so that was a good one. Another time we played France.
“But tonight’s the first time I scored on my birthday. So right now I feel like I’m 31 years young, but maybe in the mornings it’s more like 31 years old.”
To make the day a bit more special, he was surrounded by friends: after NHL duty in Montreal, Detroit and St Louis, de la Rose returned to Europe in 2021, moved Switzerland a year later, and just helped Fribourg-Gotteron win its first ever Swiss championship.
Hometown fans brought banners bearing his name to the game and brought a smile to the forward's face. “I saw a few of them,” de la Rose smiled. “I’ve got some great fans here. It’s a great experience to get a chance to play a World Championship here in the arena where I play the rest of the year.”
Lucas Raymond also scored twice for the Swedes, who improve to two from four after losing to Canada and Czechia during a tough start to the competition.
De la Roses’s first big moment came late in the first period. Linus Karlsson went behind the net and emerged to thread the puck through a crowded slot. De la Rose was waiting at the back door and elevated his shot just under bar, giving Zan Us little chance.
And he got another at the start of the second. More good work from Karlsson behind the net pulled the Slovenian defence out of shape before a centring pass that presented de la Rose with a second birthday gift in the 26th minute.
Prior to all that Raymond opened the scoring after three minutes. That goal was a tale of two line changes: Raymond jumped onto the ice at the same time as the Slovenes looked to shuffle their personnel. In the confusion, he ghosted into the zone unmolested to convert a big rebound from Carl Grundstrom’s wrister.
And Raymond also finished with two goals, scoring Sweden’s fifth during an emphatic middle frame. Robert Hagg was also on target, Oliver Ekman-Larsson collected another assist and Mattias Ekholm potted his third in four games, selling a slapshot before fooling everyone with a snapper to make it 6-0 through 40 minutes.
Slovenia was having a tough time. This was a fourth loss in four World Championship meetings with Sweden. Prior to tonight, the aggregate score was 14-2 and the Swedes averaged more than 50 shots per game. Wednesday’s action maintained that 50+ average.
Defender Blaz Gregorc highlighted the Swedish strengths. “They come with speed every time, with pressure on us,” he said. “They have a good forecheck so it’s hard to break out and hard to make some plays in the their zone.”
The underdog has shown it can give anyone a game in this tournament, shocking the Czechs in overtime and taking Slovakia to a shoot-out as it bids to stay in the elite for an unprecedented third successive season.
But today it needed strong goaltending from Us to stay in the game early on. He made good stops to deny Anton Frondell and Jack Berglund in the first period, the goalie also had his post to thank after he was beaten by an Ekman-Larsson snipe eight minutes in.
At the other end, Arvid Soderblom had a quiet time. He faced just 16 shots, with a first period combination from the 22-year-olds Marcel Mahkovec and Matic Torok generating the most danger in the early stages.
Early in the third he was tested once again. Miha Berecic forced a turnover and raced down the ice, but the goalie stoned the rush to protect his shut-out. And the Chicago netminder pulled off a similar stop to frustrate another breakaway, this time for the lively Torok.
Despite a heavy loss, Gregorc was pleased with Slovenia’s progress in the preliminary round.
“If someone said we would have three points after this many games we would be pretty excited,” he said. “We’re looking forward, we’re in a pretty good spot so yeah, we’re going forward.”
The Swedish forward turned 31 today and marked the occasion with the second goal in his country’s win over Slovenia.
With a birthday in May, it’s not unusual to have World Championship action on the big day – and de la Rose has had some memorable gifts at past editions of this tournament.
“It’s happened three times,” he said. “The first one, we won the final on my birthday, so that was a good one. Another time we played France.
“But tonight’s the first time I scored on my birthday. So right now I feel like I’m 31 years young, but maybe in the mornings it’s more like 31 years old.”
To make the day a bit more special, he was surrounded by friends: after NHL duty in Montreal, Detroit and St Louis, de la Rose returned to Europe in 2021, moved Switzerland a year later, and just helped Fribourg-Gotteron win its first ever Swiss championship.
Hometown fans brought banners bearing his name to the game and brought a smile to the forward's face. “I saw a few of them,” de la Rose smiled. “I’ve got some great fans here. It’s a great experience to get a chance to play a World Championship here in the arena where I play the rest of the year.”
Lucas Raymond also scored twice for the Swedes, who improve to two from four after losing to Canada and Czechia during a tough start to the competition.
De la Roses’s first big moment came late in the first period. Linus Karlsson went behind the net and emerged to thread the puck through a crowded slot. De la Rose was waiting at the back door and elevated his shot just under bar, giving Zan Us little chance.
And he got another at the start of the second. More good work from Karlsson behind the net pulled the Slovenian defence out of shape before a centring pass that presented de la Rose with a second birthday gift in the 26th minute.
Prior to all that Raymond opened the scoring after three minutes. That goal was a tale of two line changes: Raymond jumped onto the ice at the same time as the Slovenes looked to shuffle their personnel. In the confusion, he ghosted into the zone unmolested to convert a big rebound from Carl Grundstrom’s wrister.
And Raymond also finished with two goals, scoring Sweden’s fifth during an emphatic middle frame. Robert Hagg was also on target, Oliver Ekman-Larsson collected another assist and Mattias Ekholm potted his third in four games, selling a slapshot before fooling everyone with a snapper to make it 6-0 through 40 minutes.
Slovenia was having a tough time. This was a fourth loss in four World Championship meetings with Sweden. Prior to tonight, the aggregate score was 14-2 and the Swedes averaged more than 50 shots per game. Wednesday’s action maintained that 50+ average.
Defender Blaz Gregorc highlighted the Swedish strengths. “They come with speed every time, with pressure on us,” he said. “They have a good forecheck so it’s hard to break out and hard to make some plays in the their zone.”
The underdog has shown it can give anyone a game in this tournament, shocking the Czechs in overtime and taking Slovakia to a shoot-out as it bids to stay in the elite for an unprecedented third successive season.
But today it needed strong goaltending from Us to stay in the game early on. He made good stops to deny Anton Frondell and Jack Berglund in the first period, the goalie also had his post to thank after he was beaten by an Ekman-Larsson snipe eight minutes in.
At the other end, Arvid Soderblom had a quiet time. He faced just 16 shots, with a first period combination from the 22-year-olds Marcel Mahkovec and Matic Torok generating the most danger in the early stages.
Early in the third he was tested once again. Miha Berecic forced a turnover and raced down the ice, but the goalie stoned the rush to protect his shut-out. And the Chicago netminder pulled off a similar stop to frustrate another breakaway, this time for the lively Torok.
Despite a heavy loss, Gregorc was pleased with Slovenia’s progress in the preliminary round.
“If someone said we would have three points after this many games we would be pretty excited,” he said. “We’re looking forward, we’re in a pretty good spot so yeah, we’re going forward.”