I wrote earlier today that I hadn`t seen much to justify the talk about Swedish forward Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi being a top ten or even top five pick in the 2009 draft. Okay, he had a better game today. A couple of goals, one of them one-timing a puck that was lobbed toward the goalmouth. He did get thumped by the Latvians twice but he`s big and thick and it didn`t slow him down or make him shy.. Familiar faces on the ice and from the crowd when the St Mike`s Majors had a couple of Latvian players and a throng of, uh, over-refreshed patriots. I don`t know how much you can read into these heavyweight-flyweight games. A killer was the Latvia goal in the first period--scored on their first and only shot of the period, right at the 19:57 mark. The Swedish goaltender, Mark Owuya, is a card. He was on the Swedish version of American Idol, did a rap song -- I don`t know if sing is the operative word here. Couple of awful calls--Victor Hedman was called for a slash when he threw his stick at Roberts Jekimovs who had a clean breakaway. Should have been a penalty shot, no questions. You can only hope that the refs (Danny Kurmann of Switzerland and Guy Pellerin of Canada) don`t make a gaffe like that in a game that really counts. One scout told me that he`s going to keep coming to games until Oscar Moller, the Swedish captain on loan from LA Kings, passes the puck. That would be a forgiveable sin given his talent and the program`s past history (i.e. lots of players in the past who were reluctant to seize the moment). I`m sure that the Swedish coaches were rattled when Moller was filled in with his head down in the neutral zone. He didn`t bounce back so quickly.
