Canada falls to Sweden in men's hockey QF

BEIJING — Canada is heading home from the Olympics without a men’s hockey medal for the first time in 16 years.

Lucas Wallmark scored midway through the third period as Sweden defeated Canada 2-0 in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Games on Wednesday.

Lars Johanssen made 22 saves for the Swedes, who will meet the Russian Olympic Committee on Friday in the semifinals. Anton Lander added the clincher into an empty net.

Matt Tomkins made 24 stops for Canada.

Wallmark’s winner came off a sloppy sequence for the Canadians where Jack McBain and Eric O’Dell couldn’t get the puck out of the defensive zone. Wallmark stripped the latter and fired a shot off Tyler Wotherspoon’s stick and past Tomkins with 9:45 left in regulation.

Canada tried to press, but Lander iced it with Tomkins on the bench for an extra attacker with under two minutes to go.

The goal tied Wallmark with Slovakia's Juraj Slavkovsky for the tournament lead with five.

Thursday marked the countries' first meeting at the Olympics since the 2014 gold-medal final in Sochi when Canada beat Sweden 3-0.

That also marked the last time NHLers took the ice at a Games.

The league skipped the 2018 event for financial reasons before withdrawing from 2022 because of COVID-19 concerns that forced dozens of postponements and battered its December schedule.

Sweden advanced to the quarters in Beijing as the No. 4 seed, while Canada had to play an extra game – a 7-2 victory over China – in Tuesday’s qualification round after finishing fifth of 12 teams in the round robin.

Canada won Olympic gold with its NHL players in 2010 and 2014 before securing bronze four years ago with a roster of mostly European-based professionals. The country’s NHLers lost in the quarters to Russia in 2006