Gene J. Puskar / AP

Sweden's Per Johan Axelsson (22) scores his team's second goal as teammate Daniel Alfredsson and the Czech Republic's Tomas Kaberle and goalie Milan Hnilicka look on Friday. Sweden won 7-3.

updated 11:21 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

TURIN, Italy - Tell the Swedish post office to dust off that old Peter Forsberg stamp. The hockey team is one win from another gold medal.

Forsberg set up a goal 34 seconds into the game and Sweden scored four times in the second period to rout the Czech Republic 7-3 in an Olympic semifinal Friday night. The victory sends Sweden into Sunday’s title game against neighbor and longtime rival Finland.

The Swedes are guaranteed an Olympic medal for the first time since 1994, when Forsberg scored the winning goal to beat Canada in a gold-medal shootout and the country put his image on a postage stamp to commemorate the occasion.

Daniel Alfredsson, who had a goal and assist Friday, remembers watching Forsberg on TV as he clinched the gold medal for Sweden back in 1994.

Greatest moment in Swedish hockey history, perhaps?

“Yeah, especially the way it ended,” he said. “They made a stamp of it for a reason.”

Forsberg, who sat out three games of this tournament because of a sore groin, set the tone early against the Czech Republic. His cross-ice pass landed softly on the stick of Fredrik Modin, who quickly turned it into a goal.

Suddenly, the Swedes were flying high, venting two Olympics’ worth of pent-up frustration on the world champions.

Mike Blake / Reuters Sweden's Fredrik Modin celebrates scoring his team's first goal against the Czech Republic in first period of play in their men's semifinal ice hockey game.

“It was just good luck on the first puck of the game, and we never came back from that,” Czech forward Martin Straka said. “I guess we ran out of gas. We were very tired with so many games, but everybody is in the same boat.”

Sweden, surprising quarterfinal losers the past two Olympics, ran over the Dominik Hasek-less Czechs — scoring four straight times after falling into a 1-1 tie.

“From the beginning, we showed we wanted this game, and I think the Czechs felt that,” Alfredsson said.

One goal on one shot, and three more scores in the first 7:54 of the middle period drove shaky goalie Milan Hnilicka to the bench and put Sweden in position for another chance at gold.

Earning at least a silver medal will help the Swedes erase the bitter memories of the 2002 Olympics when they were upset by Belarus. The lightning-quick start took the Czechs, the world titleholders in four of seven years, right out of the game.

“A lot of us learned from Salt Lake, and we learned that if you’re not ready, anything can happen,” Alfredsson said.

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

The Swedes charged from all angles and used brilliant passing that sliced the offensive zone from end to end and side to side. Even though both rosters are full of NHL stars, the European style shone through on the large Olympic playing surface.

“We came out hard on the ice and showed them we wanted to win,” Forsberg said.

Henrik Sedin, Christian Backman, Jorgen Jonsson, and Alfredsson scored in the second period for Sweden.

The Czechs’ defense was almost nonexistent, and Hnilicka wasn’t sharp enough to bail out his teammates.

“It was not a goalie’s game for sure,” said Sweden’s Henrik Lundqvist, who made 21 saves. “The last 5 minutes I was just smiling out there to look at the score.”