PHOTO: Bildbyrån
The Swedish national ice hockey team won a brilliant Olympic gold in Turin in 2006.
Tre Kronor defeated arch-rival Finland 3-2 after great drama.
Now Mats Sundin has revealed an unknown detail in the match that changed hockey history completely.
The Olympic final in Turin 2006 has become a great classic for many. Tre Kronor defeated rival Finland 3–2 after enormous drama, where the Swedish goals were scored Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidström. And just when you see these three goalscorers, you can guess that it was a star-studded Swedish national team, to say the least.
Iconic goal
Nicklas Lidström’s 3–2 goal has also become a real classic. Immediately after relegation in the third and last period got Peter Forsberg the chance to get the puck into the offensive zone. “Foppa” then released the puck Mats Sundin who in turn dropped the puck on to Nicklas Lidström. “Lidas” pushed off, and Sweden once again took the lead. A leading goal which later meant Swedish Olympic gold.
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But maybe that 3-2 goal wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for a specific, and relatively unknown, detail in the origin of the goal.
– When Sundin counters Saku Koivu, then Koivu’s mallet goes off. I quickly perceive that he goes directly to the booth, says Nicklas Lidström in SVT’s “Hockeyns historia – Den gyllene generationen”.
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The Finnish star forward Saku Koivu’s stick goes off directly on the draw, which led to Tre Kronor playing with one more man in the opening seconds of the third period – and which they took advantage of the opportunity.
– I know I fit Peter and shout: “Drive now!”. So he puts good speed into the attack zone and I follow along, says goalkeeper Mats Sundin
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Forsberg understood immediately that he had surfaces to walk on when he heard “Sudden’s” cry.
– I hear in his voice that I should get ahead here, says “Foppa”.
Sundin got a lot of leeway when Forsberg drew on two Finnish players, and without having to look, he knew that it was simply to drop the puck backwards to Lidström.
– Without having to look, I know that Niklas is completely free diagonally behind and will get a good shot.
And as we all know, the shot was just that, good. Which is probably a gross understatement in the context.
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