PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Tommy Salo is one of Swedish hockey’s top goalkeepers.
That’s why many people reacted strongly when he was nominated for the “Hockey Gala of the Ages” last year.
Now Salo thanks fellow goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist for the beautiful gesture in connection with the gala.
It’s hard not to count Tommy Salo as one of Swedish hockey’s most outstanding goalkeepers of all time. With a total of 10 seasons and over 500 games in the NHL, as well as being named the Edmonton Oilers’ best player for four seasons and 37 clean sheets in the NHL, he is one of the best Swedish goalkeepers who played in North America.
Salo’s career
If you then add Olympic gold, World Cup gold, named the World Cup’s best goalkeeper three times, 112 international matches for Tre Kronor and the only Swedish goalkeeper to guard the box in three different Olympic tournaments, he has an impressive track record. But despite that, Salo was completely snubbed when the Swedish Ice Hockey Association celebrated 100 years last fall and invited to the “Hockey Gala of the Ages”.
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Swedish hockey’s best player was to be celebrated in the Avicii arena, but Tommy Salo was not even nominated in the category “Goalkeeper of all time”. Instead, it was chosen Henrik Lundqvist, Leif “Honken” Holmqvist, Lennart “Klimpen” Häggroth, Pekka Lindmark and Pelle Lindbergh before.
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Henke’s gesture
Many Swedes saw it as a robbery and strong reactions were aroused. Lundqvist won the award as Sweden’s best hockey goalie ever, but was also really surprised that Salo wasn’t even nominated.
– Tommy was one of our best goalkeepers for a very long time. In the early teens it was him who inspired me, I looked up to him a lot, said “Henke” in a statement at the time.
– It is incredibly difficult to measure across different generations. The five of us who are in the category, it could have been five others. It is difficult to meet over a long period of time and there are an incredible number of good ones to choose from. But for me, Tommy was cruel. He was great in the NHL and always delivered in the national team as well, he says in the interview.
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A beautiful gesture and words that really went straight to the heart of an old goalkeeper who has had a few tough years behind him.
– It warmed when Henke said it. It was a jury drawn up by the hockey association that decided. Me who accepted and stood up for the national team for ten years, won Olympic gold and WC gold. Then I got that back. It felt wrong, Salo now admits in an interview with SportExpressen.
READ MORE: Curre Lundmark’s rage against Three Kronor – after Finland’s unforgettable trample: “Got green with anger”
“Became sad”
Because it really hurt not to receive any appreciation at all from the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation after all he had done for Tre Kronor over the years.
– Yes, it was. I kept a clean sheet in two WC finals. I saved the last penalty in the Olympics in Lillehammer. As a goalkeeper, you can’t do much better. I always stood up for Tre Kronor, says the 52-year-old in the interview.
It is precisely that conceded goal against Belarus in the 2002 Olympics that Tommy Salo still gets shit for. But after the gala, many Swedes have come forward to show their support and even old teammates have raised their voices to defend the goalkeeper after the fiasco loss that laid like a wet blanket over Salo’s career.
– I was sad and angry when I was not nominated for the Hockey Gala. But the reactions afterwards… It warmed. Especially when old players stood up and defended me, he says to the evening newspaper.
– It’s always nice when players I played with think I did something well. That’s really the most important thing.
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