Victor Hedman: “I’m proud of the way we bounced back after yesterday”

With a roster that included 19 NHLers, this Swedish team was built to win the 2024 IIHF World Championship. After eight straight wins, the Swedes suffered a bitter disappointment in the semifinals, losing 7-3 to the host Czechs on Saturday. However, the team rebounded to beat Canada 2-1 on Sunday to claim the bronze medal.

One of the strengths of this Swedish team was its formidable blue line, including Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I’m proud of the way we bounced back after yesterday,” Hedman said after the bronze-medal game. “It was a quick turnaround, five games in seven days, and I’m super proud how we came back after being down 2-1 – it felt like we took over the game after that.

“I think the first period was ours, and then the second period they kinda gave it to us, so it was kind of good for us to come out in the third after they went ahead to get ourselves back into the game and win it.”

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG7BWZ9ZoTQ[/embed]

Was it difficult to get over the disappointment of losing yesterday?
“Yesterday was yesterday; today is today. We can’t change the outcome from yesterday. It’s the type of tournament that can be pretty unforgiving. Usually, if you lose one game out of 10, you’re in pretty good shape. We just lost the wrong one.”

After that, is it a challenge to get motivated for the bronze-medal game?
“Yeah, but it’s not just about us. It’s about our whole country – people who have travelled here and people watching at home – we owe it to them to put out our best effort every single game. And of course, it was our last game together as a group too. You never know if you’re going to play with some of the guys again, and this is a special team.”

How was the overall experience of playing on this team for you?
“It was great. I made a lot of new friends – some guys I’ve never played with before and hadn’t really met. That’s why these tournaments are so fun too. You play with your team for eight months out of the year, and then you come here and it’s a different type of team and you’ve got to try to fit in and have your role on the team – you’ve got to adapt to that quickly and I think everybody did a great job of that. We had a real strong bond so it was a lot of fun.”

Are you going to celebrate the bronze medal?
“Nah, we’re going to have a team meal and just be together one last time and then I go home to my kids tomorrow.”