Photo: Bildbyrån
30 years ago Tre Kronor won its first Olympic gold in hockey.
Now Charles “Challe” Berglund tells us what it was like to share a room with a somewhat distraught Peter “Foppa” Forsberg during the championship.
– He always had difficulty keeping track of his accreditation when we were leaving the room, he tells Sportbibeln.
He really needs no further introduction. Peter Forsberg51, is one of Sweden’s and the entire NHL’s best players ever. He has won two Olympic golds (1994, 2006), two World Cup golds (1992, 1998) and two Stanley Cups (1996, 2001). In addition, he was awarded as the Elitserie’s best player in both the 1993 and 1994 seasons, when he belonged to the parent club Modo.
Forsberg and Berglund shared a room
As a 20-year-old, he was an important part of the Swedish national team that eventually managed to salvage Tre Kronor’s first ever Olympic gold. In fact, “Foppa” decided the entire final in Lillehammer in 1994 when he shocked the whole world by copying Kent Nilsson’s dream penalty against the USA in the 1989 World Cup. He scored the decisive penalty in the extra round of the final against Canada. The penalty is one of the most classic national team goals ever!
READ MORE: The unknown truth about Peter Forsberg: “He completely sucks at it”
During the championship, he fought together with the man eight years older “Challe” Berglund59. The Djurgård icon was then already a seasoned national team player with WC gold and three SM gold in the bag. He had also played in the Olympics in Albertville two years earlier.
– When we played the Olympics in Albertville in 1992, there was no Olympic village in the same way. Then we lived in Méribel. We had to go a long way if we wanted to check out something else and there were hardly any other athletes there either. In Lillehammer it was an Olympic village, then you had the entire Swedish squad close to you to spend time with. It was much more fun. It’s something that belongs to the Olympics, I think, says “Challe” to Sportbibeln.
“Challes” anecdote about Peter Forsberg
How was it then to share a hotel room with a youngster who had just had his big breakthrough at home in the Elitserien? “Challe” became like a big brother to “Foppa” and helped him with little things like reminding him to bring the right things out of the room and to borrow the phone (this was in those days not everyone had mobile phones).
Berglund’s wife Felt – the trotting trainer Stig H Johansson’s daughter – was pregnant with the son Emil (also a hockey player) during the Olympics in Lillehammer 1994. The parents-to-be had constant phone contact, but despite that, Forsberg was happy to borrow “Challe’s” phone to call a friend’s home and talk shit. He was a little puppyish that way.
– My wife was heavily pregnant, so I had to call all the time if anything happened. But of course Peter had to borrow the phone. He was going to call (Lennart) Hermanssonthe same age as me with whom he played in Modo. He just wanted to buzz, says Berglund.
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Worked together with trot TV
After the two players ended their careers, they worked for periods for ATG’s own production company Kanal75 and recorded trotting and hockey programs together. They are both die-hard trotting geeks who have owned horses for several years.
– Peter is a fantastic person. Now that we’ve worked together at Kanal75, you can see that he’s so fucking funny. He’s a bit shy, which is a lot of fun. But he was already then. He always had difficulty keeping track of his accreditation when we were leaving the room, says “Challe”.
Because Berglund works as a coach for the SHL club Leksand, he is no longer in Kanal75’s studio program. Forsberg, on the other hand, is an NHL expert and delivers analyzes and game tips every now and then for the channel.
It’s always fun to hear about things that happen behind the scenes. Exciting to hear more about Peter Forsberg – one of Sweden’s greatest ever.
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