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Sedin: Mike Smith is a diver

MikeSmith

The normally reserved Henrik Sedin has thrown down some fightin’ words.

Or, divin’ words.

Sedin, currently playing with Team Sweden at the 2013 World Hockey Championships, blasted Phoenix Coyotes/Team Canada goalie Mike Smith, who is currently lighting up the tournament with a .957 save percentage and 1.30 GAA.

The following comes from a Hockey Expressen piece (courtesy Canucks Army, with translation from HockeySverige):

“Smith is a [expletive] big goalie, extremely big and good at playing the puck. He also dives a lot. You can’t barely touch him, then he will fall

“He’s the goalie in the NHL that draws more penalties than anyone else. I believe it was twelve penalties that the other team took. He goes out, holds on to the puck and then holds on, holds on.

“When you challenge him or barely touches him, he falls. That’s something we’ve got to be careful with. I’m going to tell the ref to keep an eye on him.”

Sedin dropped these remarks following Tuesday’s win over Denmark, a result that put Sweden in a quarterfinal matchup with the Canadians.

The Canucks captain has a history with the ‘Yotes netminder, especially after incidents from this year.

In March, teammate and countryman Alex Edler was given a two-game suspension for this hit on Smith:

In April, the Smith and Canucks got into it again:

Canada and Sweden will meet on Thursday to decide who will advance to the tournament semifinals.