Team Sweden battles Latvia in the World Junior Championship quarterfinal today at 12 PM today (on the NHL Network and TSN), and Axel Sandin Pellikka told IIHF.com’s Lukas Aykroyd that the Swedes won’t take the Latvians lightly:
On paper, it’s impossible not to pick Sweden in this TD Place Arena matchup. The well-structured Juniorkronorna, who won last year’s silver medal, amassed a perfect group-stage record with an impressive 24-10 goal difference. They have the tournament’s best power play (7-for-20, 35 percent) and three of the tournament’s top 10 scorers. The list goes on.
That doesn’t mean coach Magnus Havelid’s boys will take the Latvians lightly, even though the small Baltic nation has never finished higher than seventh at a World Juniors (2022). Latvia’s 3-2 shootout upset over host Canada put everyone on notice.
“Of course, we’re going to be favourites, but still, we need to play our best at all times,” said Swedish captain Axel Sandin Pellikka, who leads the tournament scoring race (4+4=8). “They’re a really good team, so we’d better start preparing as soon as possible.”
The Latvians also managed to stay within one goal of the Americans in their 5-1 loss for more than 25 minutes, and they will look to do the same against the Swedes, trying to engender a sense of doubt. Power forward Eriks Mateiko has been clutch with a team-leading three goals so far.
Latvian captain Peteris Bulans said: “We need to play simple: send bodies to the net and pucks to the net and get the rebounds and deflections, simple hockey in the O-zone.”
