Where: Nokia Arena, Tampere.
When: Wednesday, 7.20 pm.
TV and Radio: Viaplay / TV6, SR P4.
World Cup so far, USA: Latvia 4–1, Austria 3–2 after extra time, Finland 1–4, Great Britain 3–0. Sweden: Austria 3–1, Czech Republic 5–3, Great Britain 6–0, Finland 3–2.
Reinforcements on site: Since the Finland match, Sweden has had two match days off and two more players have been added from NHL goalkeeper Linus Ullmark, Boston, and defender Marcus Pettersson, Pittsburgh. In addition, center Lucas Wallmark is healthy after food poisoning and playing against the United States. William Nylander lands on Saturday and misses the match.
Prerequisites: Sweden is in practice ready for the playoffs after the miss last year, but not in theory. But with eleven points scored, a full-time victory against the United States would secure the playoffs. The United States is third on eight points. The top four teams from the group advance to the quarterfinals.
Injured directly: The USA brought in experienced Minnesota defender Jon Merill to the last match – but he played just over a minute before a slap on the hand stopped him from the rest of the match. It is unclear if he will play against Sweden. In addition, the team is still waiting for three NHL reinforcements, among them forward star Ryan Hartman, Minnesota. Even there, there are question marks for games against Sweden.
USA
Goalkeepers: 1 Jeremy Swayman, 31 Strauss Mann, 32 John Gillies.
Backs: 4 Seth Jones, 5 Jon Merrill – 2 Andrew Peeke, 88 Nate Schmidt – 43 Luke Hughes, 44 Jaycob Megna – 7 Nick Blankenburg.
Back on the way in: Jordan Harris.
Chains: 17 Adam Gaudette, 22 Kieffer Bellows, 26 Sean Farrell – 11 Riley Barber, 25 Karson Kuhlman, 34 Thomas Bordeleau – 15 John Hayden, 27 Alex Galchenyuk, 59 Ben Myers – 16 Austin Watson, 24 Sam Lafferty, 28 Vinni Lettieri.
Forwards heading in: Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy, TJ Tynan.
Sweden
Goalkeepers: 35 Linus Ullmark (45 Magnus Hellberg, 63 Marcus Högberg).
Back pair: 26 Rasmus Dahlin, 6 Adam Larsson – 23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 56 Erik Gustafsson – 7 Henrik Tömmernes, 54 Anton Lindholm – 8 Marcus Pettersson.
Extraback: 64 Jonathan Pudas.
Chains: 42 Joakim Nordström, 32 Lucas Wallmark / 40 Jacob Peterson, 72 Emil Bemström – 74 Rasmus Asplund, 62 Joel Kellman, 12 Max Friberg – 86 Mathias Bromé, 28 Anton Bengtsson, 48 Carl Klingberg – 17 Oskar Lang, 66 Nils Åman, 91 Carl Grundström.