photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Jacob Berglund scored a natural hat trick in the second period to lead Norway to a 4-0 win over Slovenia tonight in Fribourg. The result puts both teams with a win and a loss in the Group B standings, although Slovenia's win came in OT.
"It's a funny game," Berglund said. "I mean, I got a couple of lucky bounces, got lucky on the breakaway when he sat on the puck and pushed it in himself. It's just dumb luck sometimes."
Both teams are back at it on Tuesday. Norway plays the early game against Italy after which Slovenia plays Slovakia.
"We just weren't good enough tonight," admitted Slovenia's Matic Torok, "but we have a day off tomorrow and can work on a few things to face a new challenge on Tuesday."
Henrik Haukeland stopped eleven shots for his third career World Championship shutout, and the Norwegians improved to 5-0 all time against Slovenia.
"Yesterday we played a really good game, too," Berglund added, "but we let in a couple of unfortunate goals on two-on-ones and breakaways, and even though we played a really good game, we didn't score. It was nice today to get a few goals and get rewarded for a good team effort."
"Yesterday we scored early, but today we fell behind, which made things tougher mentally knowing we needed a goal," Torok added. "We're going to get our chances in the future, though. I'm a hundred per cent sure of that."
Norway had much the better of play in the first period, and but for the excellent goaltending of Zan Us would have had a much bigger lead than 1-0 after 20 minutes. Sander Hurrod opened the scoring at 7:33 when his long shot went off the knee of Jaka Sodja, who had come out to try to block it. The disc cut through sticks and legs in front and beat Us under the glove.
Slovenia didn’t get their first shot until the eight-minute mark, and Norway kept pressing and taking the play to the Slovenes. Noah Steen drilled a shot from close range off the post, and Markus Vikingstad looked like he had a goal when he connected on a back-door pass during a power play. But Us got his left pad down in time to make a great save.
Minutes later, Us made another left-pad save, this time off Steen.
The second period was all Berglund. He got his first goal on the power play at 5:27, taking a back pass from Tinus Luc Koblar, and ripped it high to the short side over the glove of Us.
Berglund got his second just four and a half minutes later. He got to a loose puck and skated in alone. Us made the save, but as he moved his glove to cover the puck between his legs, he accidentally pushed it over the goal line.
Berglund completed his hat trick at 16:32, banging in a loose puck from the crease to make it a 4-0 game. "I've never scored a hat trick for Norway, so that was really fun," he said with a smile.
"It's a funny game," Berglund said. "I mean, I got a couple of lucky bounces, got lucky on the breakaway when he sat on the puck and pushed it in himself. It's just dumb luck sometimes."
Both teams are back at it on Tuesday. Norway plays the early game against Italy after which Slovenia plays Slovakia.
"We just weren't good enough tonight," admitted Slovenia's Matic Torok, "but we have a day off tomorrow and can work on a few things to face a new challenge on Tuesday."
Henrik Haukeland stopped eleven shots for his third career World Championship shutout, and the Norwegians improved to 5-0 all time against Slovenia.
"Yesterday we played a really good game, too," Berglund added, "but we let in a couple of unfortunate goals on two-on-ones and breakaways, and even though we played a really good game, we didn't score. It was nice today to get a few goals and get rewarded for a good team effort."
"Yesterday we scored early, but today we fell behind, which made things tougher mentally knowing we needed a goal," Torok added. "We're going to get our chances in the future, though. I'm a hundred per cent sure of that."
Norway had much the better of play in the first period, and but for the excellent goaltending of Zan Us would have had a much bigger lead than 1-0 after 20 minutes. Sander Hurrod opened the scoring at 7:33 when his long shot went off the knee of Jaka Sodja, who had come out to try to block it. The disc cut through sticks and legs in front and beat Us under the glove.
Slovenia didn’t get their first shot until the eight-minute mark, and Norway kept pressing and taking the play to the Slovenes. Noah Steen drilled a shot from close range off the post, and Markus Vikingstad looked like he had a goal when he connected on a back-door pass during a power play. But Us got his left pad down in time to make a great save.
Minutes later, Us made another left-pad save, this time off Steen.
The second period was all Berglund. He got his first goal on the power play at 5:27, taking a back pass from Tinus Luc Koblar, and ripped it high to the short side over the glove of Us.
Berglund got his second just four and a half minutes later. He got to a loose puck and skated in alone. Us made the save, but as he moved his glove to cover the puck between his legs, he accidentally pushed it over the goal line.
Berglund completed his hat trick at 16:32, banging in a loose puck from the crease to make it a 4-0 game. "I've never scored a hat trick for Norway, so that was really fun," he said with a smile.