The corrective measures that can put an end to Sweden’s gold dreams

– They (Sweden) are one of the great powers in the world. They played very well in this tournament, said Matthew Tkachuk before meeting Tre Kronor.

– We know many of them. Many of our team are constantly playing with them or against them. It’s a very good team through and through.

28-year-old forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is a daily teammate of Swedish Olympic defenseman Gustav Forsling in Florida, is both a funny and polite man off the ice – as you can tell from the kind words about Sweden’s performance so far.

But when both big brother Matthew and little brother Brady are on the ice, something happens to them.

– He’s good at getting under the other team’s skin, says big brother teammate Gustav Forsling.

How then?

– They are on the sidelines in the game, but that’s how it is in playoff games. That’s what we want to do too, continues Forsling, who also pays tribute to his teammate:

– Matthew is fantastically good, especially in important games.

Related At the Four Nations national team tournament a year ago, we were able to see both of them on the national team for the first time.

Then things happen.

At this time, the relationship between Canada and the United States was most strained by the so-called tariff war. Even normally, there is a lot of prestige at stake when the two big ice hockey rivals, the USA and Canada, meet, but at the Four Nations there was also the pride of the players from both countries in their country.

The moment the puck was released, before anyone could react, Matthew Tkachuk threw away his gloves and began a violent brawl with Canadian Brandon Hagel.

When the judges stopped the fight, it was little brother Brady Tkachuk’s turn to challenge American Sam Bennett.

The launch was planned and the intention was to shake up Canada. They succeeded. The USA won this game.

That with Keeping opponents off balance is something Matthew and Brady Tkachuk do very well – and they don’t always have to use their fists to do it.

It’s more about regular, often subtle things that the two pranksters do on the ice that cause opponents to focus more on the brothers than on what they have to do on the ice themselves.

However, sometimes they are not so subtle but very clear. For example, when Matthew said to German star Leon Draisaitl on television during the group stage game against Germany in Milan: “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.”

The sentence referred to Matthew Tkachuk’s Florida winning the Stanley Cup Final against Draisaitl’s Edmonton two years in a row.

The brothers have to compete at the Olympic Games Keep your gloves on and avoid fights similar to the Four Nations Tournament, because then you end up with match penalties. But it also works at the Olympics when you attack, push and generally get on your opponents’ nerves. Something the two brothers already did in the group stage in Milan.

There will probably be more of that now that the USA is playing knockout games.

The two brothers However, they are not just pranksters but also experienced players.

Big brother Matthew scored five points in the three Olympic group games, while little brother Bardy, who plays in Ottawa, scored three. And at +5, the two are tied at the top of the US plus/minus statistics.

With the United States, who won their group after winning all three groups, having two days off before Wednesday night’s quarterfinals, Sweden first had to play a round of 16 against Latvia to get there.

The United States and Canada are considered the two biggest contenders for gold in Milan, but the United States hockey team has often had a difficult time in Olympic tournaments.

Overall have The United States won only two Olympic gold medals in 1960 and 1980, the same number as Sweden, which won its later gold medals in 1994 and 2006.

In the Olympic tournaments in which NHL players are allowed to take part, the USA reached the final twice in 2002 and 2010. Both times they lost to Canada.

– We try not to think of it as anything other than a normal hockey game. As it gets closer you’ll probably be a little nervous, but that’s part of the whole experience here. “We’ll try to enjoy it,” said striker Jack Eichel, one of the USA’s many star players, before the quarterfinal against Sweden.

Read more: Malin Fransson: “In fifteen minutes Sweden may have to pay the price for the strange decisions”

Read more: Tre Kronor avoided fiasco – won comfortably against Latvia