Sweden, Switzerland stand in the way of another U.S. vs. Canada gold-medal game

MILAN (AP) — Sweden women’s hockey coach Ulf Lundberg has plenty of confidence in the challenge ahead.

In outlining how fearless his young and talented group has performed in going 5-0 to reach the semifinals at the Milan Cortina Games, Lundberg made a bold suggestion in preparing to face the top-ranked and tournament-favored Americans on Monday.

The Americans ”are just human beings,” Lundberg told The Associated Press following a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Czechia on Friday. “It’s a fantastic challenge. And I don’t really think that the U.S. team wants to meet us right now.”

While anything is possible in a one-game knockout, the Swedes beating the U.S. would represent a significant upset.

As for Team USA’s response to Lundberg’s comment, coach John Wroblewski said he’s eager and ready to play whoever is next.

“We’re ready to play against anybody, and we’re excited to play anybody,” he told The AP. “I think that the hunger and the gamesmanship of which they’ve shown to persevere through the relegation pool is admirable. And of course we respect that.”

Defending Olympic champion Canada will play Switzerland in the other semifinal, with the winners advancing to the gold medal game on Thursday.

What’s different this time is the dominance the United States has shown in a tournament beginning to resemble more of a coronation for the two-time gold medal winners.

The Americans have won five games by a combined margin of 26-1, including a 5-0 victory over rival Canada. And they haven’t allowed a goal since Barbora Jurickova scored on a breakaway 8:37 into second period in a 5-1 win over Czechia in both teams’ tournament opener on Feb. 5.

The Americans have shown no fear against anyone.

“We have one goal in mind and that’s to bring home a gold medal,” defender Megan Keller said. “So whoever’s in our way, we’re going to focus on ourselves.”

Four years after Canada dominated in winning gold at Beijing, the U.S. has raised women’s hockey to another level with a multi-faceted attack that overwhelms opponents in waves and features a swift, playmaking group of defenders driving the offense.

Wroblewski’s biggest fear is overconfidence.

“There needs to be a lot of respect for the treachery and how fragile it is between success and not. You can’t take anything for granted,” he said. “It’s really good to have confidence because confidence is earned. But we’ve got to make sure that these one-game sets, they’re volatile. ... We’re nowhere near the end.”

The Swedes are on the rise under Lundberg, and feature a young, brash, talented core that includes seven players still competing at the U.S. college ranks, including Josefin Bouveng of the Gophers and Thea Johansson and Ida Karlsson of Minnesota Duluth. Much like the U.S., Sweden won five games by a combined margin of 20-2, but had a comparatively easier schedule in the Group B bracket.

The team now has a chance to earn its third Olympic medal and first since winning silver in 2006, when Sweden upset the U.S. in the semifinals.

Lundberg’s confidence reflects that of his players, who’ve been instilled with the vision of being honey badgers.

Canada has never missed advancing to the gold medal game, and welcomed back Marie-Philip Poulin in a 5-1 win over Germany on Saturday after the captain missed two-plus games with a right knee injury.

Switzerland reached the semifinals for the third time in team history, with Alina Muller scoring and goalie Andrea Braendli stopping 40 shots in a 1-0 win over Finland.

The 34-year-old Poulin’s return provided a much-needed boost to an older Canada team — evident in its only tournament loss. Minus Poulin, the Canadians couldn’t keep up with the Americans in the nation’s most-lopsided loss and first shutout in Olympic play.

Signs of sloppiness remained in a sluggish opening period against Germany.

“Those are just habits that creep into your game sometimes based on the opponent. And we just got to get away from it,” coach Troy Ryan said. “The other part is we’ve got to manage our aggressiveness. So if we’re aggressive, great. But you can’t have one, two, three people being aggressive on plays.”