Germany eclipses Sweden, take Group B

Franziska Feldmeier’s goal midway through the final period broke a scoreless tie and gave Germany a tense 1-0 win over Sweden in a battle for first place in Group B.

Not the sun, not the moon, not any Swedish player could beat German goalie Sandra Abstreiter today, who was sensational from start to finish. She stopped 32 shots to record her second career shutout at the Women’s Worlds, and this was the first time Germany had ever shut out Sweden in WW history.

Sweden entered the game having scored 17 goals, tops among the ten entrants, but Germany had allowed only two goals in two games, second behind only Canada.

Sweden’s preliminary round is now complete while Germany still has a game tomorrow against China. Regardless, Germany will finish first in the group while China now has a chance to catch the Swedes for second place.

Germany once again started slowly, not recording a shot until more than eight minutes of play, by which time Sweden had had an early power play and several great scoring chances. The only difference in this goalless period was the peerless goaltending again of Abstreiter, who made several great saves to keep her team in the game. 

The Swedes continued to dominate the game in the middle period, but Abstreiter continued to dominate the Swedes. Playing rock solid poisitional goal, she had an answer for every Sweden shot, notably Lina Ljungblom, whom she stoned late in the period. Soon after, Mira Hallin had perhaps the best chance of the period, but she shot wide. 

Thea Johansson and Hanna Olsson both made determined drives to the net to draw penalties, but neither power play resulted in that crucial first goal. As the period wore on and the opening goal became more and more important, play got a little chippy.

And then Germany, badly outplayed through 40, came out and took control in the third. Soderberg had to be at her best to make a couple of fine saves, but then at 8:35 Germany scored. A long, low shot from the point by Tabea Botthof was tipped in front by Feldmeier past Soderberg, stunning the Swedes and sending the German bench into a frenzy.

The goal energized the Germans who kept coming in now with greater confidence. Svenja Voigt rattled a hard shot off Soderberg’s shoulder on a great chance, and soon after the goalie had to make another close-in save off a quick backhand from Theresa Wagner.

The final two minutes was fraught with tension. Germany incurred a penalty, and coach Ulf Lundberg called Soderberg to the bench to create…