The very physical Team USA will take on Team Sweden in the Olympic quarterfinals. And the Swedish players say they have a plan for handling the Tkachuk brothers.
After a comfortable 5–1 win against Latvia, Sweden will now face the United States in the Olympic quarterfinals. Team USA boasts a star-studded roster and is considered, along with Canada, one of the favorites to win the gold medal.
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Team Sweden lineup
Team Sweden is made up exclusively of NHL players, many of them stars such as William Nylander, Rasmus Dahlin, and Adrian Kempe. However, Sweden does not have the same level of physicality as Team USA, which features Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk.
In an article by The Wall Street Journal, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk are described as the “world’s most hated hockey players” because of their pest-like style of play. But the Swedes — many of whom have experience playing with and against the brothers — say they have a plan.
The Swedish plan
Speaking to Swedish outlet Expressen, Dahlin explained:
“It’s a show with them. We have to be physical because it’s gonna be a tough game. They like to talk and create chaos. We have to keep calm and ignore them and we’ll have a good game. Matthew Tkachuk likes to talk — he’s a guy you want on your team. But if he can’t catch anyone, it’s hard for him to perform well, so we have to keep our cool,” Dahlin says.
Need to stop the Tkachuk’s
Matthew Tkachuk’s Florida Panthers teammate Gustav Forsling agrees:
“Matthew is incredibly good, especially in games like these. He’s great at getting under his opponent’s skin. They’re gonna want to play physical — it’s good for us. We just have to be prepared. Everyone on our team has been around long enough to know what it takes come playoff time. They’ll be playing on the edge; that’s playoff hockey.”
The puck drops at 3:10 PM.
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