Photo: Bildbyrån
Mats Sundin was one of the heroes who won Olympic gold in Turin in 2006.
After the victory party, he was forced home to Toronto where there was a match – and he had to play at the back.
– It wasn’t pretty, he says in “Spittin’ Chiclets”.
Tre Kronor had an incredible team during the Olympics in Turin 2006. With players like Henrik Lundqvist, Nicklas Lidström, Daniel Alfredsson, Peter Forsberg and the twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin was it no wonder they made it all the way to the gold. Another of the legends who played an important role was the Toronto star Mats Sundin.
Sundin about the Swedish victory party
“Sudden” was recently featured on the hockey podcast “Spittin’ Chiclets” (run by former NHL pro Paul “Biz Nasty” Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney) and talked about what it was like to be part of the Swedish gold team that defeated Finland 3-2 in the final.
They asked Mats Sundin if the Olympic heroes were allowed to celebrate anything or if they were forced back to their respective NHL teams immediately after the victory. Sundin then remembers how it was 18 years ago.
– I think the final was on a Monday and we had a game in Toronto on Wednesday night. The Swedish team said that everyone in Stockholm wanted us to come home, we chartered a plane and flew home Tuesday morning. They met us with the Swedish Air Force and flew up side by side. When we landed, there were 40,000 people in a large square (Medborgarplatsen) in Stockholm, he says.
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In the middle of the victory party, he had a phone call with Toronto’s GM, who really wanted Mats to fly back to Canada.
– We had a party that night and I remember talking to John Ferguson Jr.who was general manager in Toronto at the time. I called him and he said: “Mats, we have a match tomorrow”. I was hoping he would say, “You don’t have to come and play,” but instead he said, “I think you have to play. You don’t need to play that much, but we need you because we’re fighting for a playoff spot,” he says.
“Sudden’s” memory from the match
It is a tormented Mats Sundin who remembers what it was like to have to be pulled away from the Swedish gold rush to instead get on a plane and play a match the next day.
– The next morning I flew back to Toronto and landed around 11-12 in the day completely jet-lagged. I had a couple of drinks, I was still drunk and celebrating the gold. Then slept four or five hours before I stepped on the ice and played the game. It was a tough match, he says.
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Then he is asked how he was in the match. Anyone understands that it must have been terrible to play an NHL game completely hungover against players who were full of energy and also wanted to slap a newly crowned Olympic champion. But for Mats Sundin it still seems to have gone relatively well.
– It wasn’t pretty, but I think I had an assist in a 3-4 loss.
This proves that Mats Sundin was a real fighter and a hero. So crazy to be able to play an NHL game even though he won and celebrated Olympic gold just a few hours earlier.
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