”Want to know a secret? I left my bag in Cologne”

t is finally time for the World Championship opening game against Russia.

This tournament comes with a tough start for Sweden. After Russia, Germany and the United States await.

Until now the team has been surrounded by a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

Suddenly it is like someone has pushed a button.

n the bus to the arena, no one is playing cards anymore. The players are so quiet you can hear the tires against the asphalt. Most of the guys are playing music in their headphones. Eyes are focused.

For almost two weeks Anton Strålman has been sitting at the back of the bus, socks off, feet on the armrest, laughing out loud in his tracksuit. Now he is dressed in a suit with a stare in his eyes that you don’t really want to go up against.

I’m mostly looking down at my shoes, hardly daring to take a single photograph. What happened? This bunch of jokey and fun guys suddenly look like a group of soldiers on their way into a battle.

FROM CRAZY PRANKS TO COMPLETE FOCUS

This is not really the time or place for a joke. I get the urge to grab the microphone in the front of the bus and shout: “Hey guys, are you on your way to a funeral or what?”

But I don’t.

The players do their warm-up individually, some playing soccer, others on bikes or doing their own exercising.

The Swedish locker room is located at the practice facilities so the players have to go by bus to the arena (where they get a temporary locker room during the game).

I’m the first one at the bus. Victor Hedman and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are also taking the first bus (the second one leaves 15 minutes later).

They arrive in full gear, skates in their hands.

The look feels so incredibly strange.

Ice hockey is a billion dollar industry but here we have two superstars on their way to their World Championship premiere, skates in their hands on some old metrobus as if they were playing on some random under-15 team on their way to a local tournament after gulping down a bowl of cereal, definitely having spilled some on the jersey.

But at the same time this says a great deal about the people committing their lives to ice hockey. We shouldn’t generalize even if it’s on a positive level, but I have covered several different sports during my years at Aftonbladet and within the ice hockey community I have experienced a great amount of humility. This is just like during the introduction in Stockholm, nobody whines, nobody complains.

“It’s kind of cozy taking bus,” Oliver says to Victor, squeezing in next to him.
“Not a single seat on the bus is taken, yet you choose to sit next to each other?” I ask.
“Well yeah, but it’s always nice with some company, right?” says Oliver Ekman-Larsson, NHL star.

This moment stays with me. One of my strongest memories from the World Championship. Hedman and Ekman-Larsson. Two guys from small Swedish towns who became good at playing hockey – but that hasn’t really changed them.

s expected Sweden gets three tough games in four days and the team is in need of some good rest. Victor Hedman takes charge and sorts out an activity: golf.

About half of the team takes part in the golf tournament just outside of Cologne. To summarize their game: rather mixed quality.

Or as Linus Omark says when I film him underneath a tree on the first round:

”God damn it, this is like Sällskapsresan!” comparing the golf game to a well known Swedish slapstick movie.

But he is in a good mood. Always in a good mood.

It is not really clear who ends up winning that golf tournament, but on the other hand that isn’t important. The point is to get out of the hotel and do something other than killing time.

Because you spend a whole lot of time in that hotel.

Some of the guys play FIFA, others play cards or watch TV shows.

Victor Hedman probably spends most of his time playing “Football Manager”.

he World Championship goes on for quite a while, and after the first three games every day seems more or less the same:

They face a team they are supposed to beat, the game turns out a little tougher than expected, but in the end Sweden wins.

Against Italy, Victor Hedman gets a shoulder to his head. His visor cracks, slicing him dangerously close to his left eye. Victor goes to the locker room and immediately realizes the deep cut will need to be stitched up.

Inside the medical room, team doctor Björn Waldebäck starts laying out all his tools on Hedman’s chest.
“You will have to assist me a bit here, Wixtröm,” he tells me.

I’ll have to put my camera down and help out. Talk about being on the inside. I’m adding doctor’s assistant to my resume now.

Hedman is a bit frustrated: “This is so damn typical. You play in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you play in some really heated games, but then this happens in a group stage game against Italy. Stupid!”

Waldebäck starts off with an injection needle with anesthetics right under the cut.

Hedman twitches a bit. It doesn’t look very comfy.

It looks more like outright torture, to be honest.

But there is only that one twitch and a deep breath. Hedman jokes with the medic: “Make sure you get this nicely done, ok? I have already have one under my other eye.”

Three stitches and some sticky tape and then he’s ready to join his teammates again. But a decision is made to keep him off the ice since the game is almost over.

n the NHL, the second round of the playoffs is closing in on Game 7. The Swedish staff is keeping an eye on which players might become available for Tre Kronor.

There’s a need for reinforcement when it comes to forwards.

That’s when the news hits. HENRIK LUNDQVIST has accepted to play the World Championship.

The news somewhat overshadows the fact that Oscar Lindberg also has said yes.

And, shortly after, there are more good news.

Nicklas Bäckström has also accepted to join the Swedish team.

These are not bad names. And you can tell that the team is excited. The team’s reaction is similar to that of the fans: “Man, this is great. This helps our chances.” They won’t say it out loud, but you can tell that this is how they feel.

nd the next day he arrives. ”The King”, as he is called.

After a flight across the Atlantic Ocean, he appears at the airport, wearing a suit, with every hair perfectly in the right place.

Or as one of his teammates put it when I showed him the pictures: “What the f… This makes you mad, he’s not human. Who can look like that after a flight across the Atlantic?”

When Lundqvist arrives at the arena you notice how big of a player he is.

There are stars, and then there are STARS.

You can actually see the joy of having him here in both players, coaches and staff. They know, more than anyone, how important he is. They know that this guy wins games single-handedly if needed.

You can basically touch the joy over Henrik and his brother Joel getting to play together.

Imagine it for yourself, growing up and playing hockey in the streets at home pretending to be on the Tre Kronor team, and then doing it. For real. In the World Championship.

Dreams. Goals.

The tournament continues.

Nicklas Bäckström arrives.

Yet another STAR.

“Bäckis” gets his seat next to William Nylander. And you can notice that they click.

Not just on the ice. It was immediately obvious outside the rink that they like each other. Birds of a feather stick together.

The only thing they argue about during the whole World Championship is who really is the better ping pong player.

peaking of William Nylander, it must be strange for Henrik Lundqvist to play with the guy he used to babysit and play street hockey with in New York.

With that, the team is complete and it is time for the quarterfinals.

In Paris.

If Tre Kronor wins, they’ll return to Cologne for the semifinals. If they lose they’ll take a private jet straight back to Stockholm from Paris.

Everyone packs their bags and gets on the train to Paris.

It becomes a very short visit to France. In. Practice. Sleep. Play. Return.

Sweden wins the game against Switzerland, 3–1. But looking back at Paris unfortunately we do not see the win, we only see the marks terrorism has left on our everyday lives. Tre Kronor were protected by three bodyguards around the clock. And also by additional police officers, from France’s most skilled forces. The players weren’t allowed to go anywhere without protection. Eddie Läck and Carl Klingberg had to travel by police car to the barbershop, that’s how high the security was.

n the train back to Cologne, I am sitting next to Gabriel Landeskog.

He asks if I want to know a secret.

Of course I do!

”I left my bag in Cologne,” he says.

”I knew we would win.”

Talk about believing in yourself!

I’m sorry I didn’t keep your secret, Gabriel, but it’s kind of my job to reveal some secrets to my readers. At least afterwards.

When Tre Kronor wins their quarterfinal there is a change in the atmosphere. The team goes from having something to lose to aiming for something to win.

Losing out in yet another quarterfinal would have been a fiasco and the players would have ended the season as losers, getting heavily criticized in the process.

Now Sweden has reached the semifinals. Of course no one is content with that, but at least losing now won’t be counted as a huge failure. It seems like everyone feels the relief of that knowledge, making the focus on winning even greater.

nd the semifinal goes well too. Until 20 seconds remaining. Henrik Lundqvist injures his knee but finishes the game.

Straight after he goes to the locker room for an examination. Thankfully nothing seems to be fractured, instead it will all come down to what the knee feels like in the morning.

Will our most valuable player be able to participate in the World Championship final?

A question on everyone’s mind.

Nobody has the answer.

After the semifinal I’m the last one to leave the dining room. Henrik is the second to last. He was limping as he entered, his knee taped, sitting down to eat. I am trying to analyze his face. Does he look happy? Sad? Not because I plan to report on it, but because I, like everyone else, want to know if our chances of winning the gold still are the same.

I can’t tell.