ince the age of 19, I have taken thousands of pictures of hockey. That’s twelve years.

I remember taking pictures of the Nylander family back in 2005. William was a little rascal who sat in daddy’s lap and mainly wanted to eat ice cream and play.

I also recall photographing a 15-year-old Victor Hedman outside Fjällräven Arena in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden for a project of mine and Mats Wennerholm’s called “The future line”. Then and there old Mats proved that he had a sense of predicting the future. As for the rest he is the worst speculator.

During the years I have come close to the hockey players and back in 2013 I had the benefit of spending time with Tre Kronor right before the World Championship. You know, the golden year.

Since then it’s been a rough few years.

hen the Swedish Hockey Federation asked us if we could do “Inside Tre Kronor” before the upcoming 2017 World Championship it felt obvious to say yes.

The only request I had this time was that I wanted to tag along during the Championship as well, to improve this piece compared to the one I did back in 2013.

The answer I got was a bit ambiguous.

That aside, the World Championship was getting closer.

The first gathering I join is when the NHL players arrive in Stockholm.

The staff and part of the team had been at it for a while. Many of them had been struck down by a persistent cough in Belarus, I recall.

The front trio Grönborg, Garpenlöv and Popovic have just settled in. It is April 25 and the snow is pouring down outside the window. I’m looking through the window, watching equipment bag after equipment bag being carried in.

Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes…

his is the first time the thought enters my brain; damn, they can win this thing. Not because NHL players automatically mean success, but after all they are symbols of fulfilling a dream. And that is exactly what a World Championship is about – turning a dream into a goal and achieving it.

A good example of that is Colorado’s great Swede and captain Gabriel Landeskog, as you will come to notice during this journey.

All the players are in place and the gathering is getting closer. Last player in is Landeskog who came straight from Arlanda Airport.

Head coach Rikard Grönborg speaks up and holds a short briefing before he asks EVERYONE in the room to introduce themselves.

“I want you to tell everybody your name, youth team and current team.”

“He must be joking,” I think to myself.

No, he isn’t.

When Landeskog stands up and introduces himself I am just thinking; No shit “Gabbe”, lucky you told us. Must have come as a total surprise to all of us.

But afterwards I understand what it’s all about. In here they are all equal. I know, it sounds like a cliché, but not when it’s put into practice. It’s easy to establish but it’s harder to show. Everyone has to work for each other no matter if you have a $60 million NHL contract or if you are a rookie in the Swedish Hockey League.

Even I have to introduce myself, just like the others. The week in Stockholm is all about getting ready. Trying out helmets, trousers, skates, sticks.

NHL players feel out the ice while the ones who haven’t been on one for some time are just trying to find the feeling again.

ay one is also the day for the suit fitting. Many measures have to be taken.

“Hockey players are not like general people, they have huge legs and asses,” says the Swedish Ice Hockey Association’s general secretary and director Tommy Boustedt, laughing.

After a few days in Stockholm it’s time to travel to Czech Republic for two pre-tournament games.

At this point, the players are starting to feel at home with Tre Kronor. You can tell during the bus ride from Prague to Budejovice. In the back of the bus Strålman, Hedman and Landeskog rule the card game “Bluff”. Rask, Omark, John Klingberg and Joel Lundqvist are also in on it.

The further on you get in the bus, the calmer it gets. Eddie Läck and Joakim Nordström are playing a game against each other on their phones. Carl Söderberg is reading a book. In the front row you find the coaches, that’s an unwritten rule of Tre Kronor.

barely remember how the games in the Czech Republic fell out, it felt like the players were trying to nail the game rather than chase victories. Afterwards the players gathered in small groups and talked a lot about how to improve the power play and penalty kill.

My strongest memory from the Czech Republic is when John Klingberg enters the dressing room and spits out teeth.

He has something in his mouth, he doesn’t know what yet, but it doesn’t look good. A few teeth are either missing or broken in halves.

Still he just wants to get back out on the ice again.

The doctor doesn’t allow that.

He answers that he accepts the decision since “it’s just a training match” but if it were a game in the World Championship he would have ignored orders.

That spirit and attitude. I guess that’s what you need to fulfill your dreams. If it was me I would have thrown myself on the ground, crying in panic over going to the dentist.

But we are different from each other.

The Czech Republic wasn’t a highlight on any level. A C– for the games as well as the food and the hotel.

n our way back to Sweden the Team Manager Putte Köhler is busy. He’s in charge and has to make sure that all the players get their flights/hotels during their stay with Tre Kronor. Now the whole team is going back for two days to repack.

That’s one of the things that strikes me the most during my time with Tre Kronor. How hard everyone around is working. Putte Köhler handles all the logistics with the help of Helena at the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.

Equipment managers Anders “Pudding” Weiderstål and Anders Kellerstam who pack and unpack a million equipment bags during the World Championship.

The physios who drag around massage tables, ultrasounds, medication and everything else that they need.

And it’s rarely, if ever, anything gets lost or goes wrong.

For the players and staff the stay is short. A relaxing evening at home with their loved ones before it’s time to say goodbye again. Now it’s time for the World Championship to start for real, the rest was just a warm up.

And it’s also now that my destiny is being decided.

It’s still outside my knowledge how the decision was made, that I would get full access during the World Championship.

Anyhow, I get a green light.

re Kronor’s charted plane is standing at Bromma Airport. Ready to take the team to Cologne.

Landeskog posts a picture of himself entering the plane with the word #kungsan – Kungsträdgården (the King’s Garden), the park in central Stockholm where many classic Swedish national team triumphs have been celebrated through the years.

A bit cocky, one might think.

But I believe it’s more about setting goals and being brave enough to acknowledge them.

His goal was to lift the trophy in Kungsträdgården. The end.

Tre Kronor lands in Cologne and settle in.

The hotel doesn’t exactly breathe luxury. Incredibly paltry. Worn-out carpets with stains on them, old wooden furniture which reminds me of those days when I used to hang out at my grandparents’ place. But the worst thing for the players seem to be the speed of the Internet. Apparently it is really bad. It’s not even possibly to FaceTime your family. Not so strange maybe when you have 14 hockey teams streaming movies in HD at the same time.

The locker room in the arena is one of Europe’s finest. It has everything. Huge spaces, gym, pool, cold bath, a small garden, steam sauna and a ping pong table.

Rikard Grönborg’s team is beginning to take shape. He announces the captain and the reinforcements from the NHL are dropping in.

WATCH WHEN JOEL LUNDQVIST BECOMES THE SWEDISH CAPTAIN

A few days before the World Championship it is confirmed that William Nylander will join the rest of the group.

THE CALL WHEN JOHAN GARPENLÖV GETS A GREEN LIGHT FROM THE STAR

ow the World Championship can start!