Sweden spanks Belarus with record 28 goals

The Swedish national bandy team scorched Belarus on the ice on Tuesday night, tallying a record 28 goals against the opposition's one in qualifying rounds of the bandy world championships.

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Less than six minutes into the match, Sweden's Daniel Andersson had already netted a hat trick of goals himself - and that was just the beginning.

In what became one of the more one-sided bandy matches history, the Swedes dismantled the Belarusians 28-1 in Vänersborg, western Sweden, in front of a 2,000-strong crowd.

"You can put it this way: That's a lot of goals," said expert TV4 commentator Per Fosshaug.

Andersson finished with a team high five goals.

Netting the only goal for Belarus was Konstantin Savchenko, who snuck one past the Swedish netminder in the 82nd minute.

RELATED PHOTO GALLERY: Scenes from the 2013 Bandy World Championships

Although the Swedes found the net once more after that, Savchenko's goal prevented the Swedes from posting a shutout, and ruined their chances of beating the international bandy scoring record of 32-0, held by Norway.

"It's hard to be motivated when you already know you're going to win," said Daniel Andersson to the TT news agency.

The result was the second drubbing in a row for Belarus, who went down to Finland on Monday 21-2.

The game was part of the 2013 Bandy World Championships, which pits 14 countries against one another, and is this year held in Sweden, the defending world champions.

Bandy, a game similar to ice-hockey but with a ball instead of a puck, a bigger rink, and more players, is a popular winter sport in Sweden.

A similar version of the sport, called "innebandy" in Swedish and floorball in English, is played indoors on hardwood and is also popular among Swedes.

Sweden continue their quest to repeat as bandy world champions with a match against Norway on Wednesday night.

TT/The Local/og
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