From the Archive, a look back at when Sweden won gold at the 2006 Olympic Games
It's gold medal season at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. So many team sports have ended round robin play and progressed to the final gold medal match. For some of the world's most renowned athletes, this is what their entire lives have built toward.
There's no ice hockey at the summer games (Netherlands, however, ran the table at field hockey). But in the spirit of the games and our love for hockey, let's look back at an iconic gold medal win: Sweden's golden men's ice hockey team at the 2006 Stockholm Olympic Games.
After winning the nation's first gold in men's hockey back in 1994, Team Sweden had gone on a slump. At '1998 Nagano and 2002 Salt Lake City games, Sweden failed to medal. In '02, the Swedes won their group stage only to fall 4-3 to an upstart Belarusian team in the quarterfinal. Hosting the 2006 games in their own capital, Sweden couldn't stomach another poor result. At the nexus between two eras of Swedish stars, they all aligned for Team Sweden to win its second ever gold at the 2006 games.
Core to this golden squad, Sweden relied on a number of seasoned veterans. Red Wings soon-to-be captain Nicklas Lidstrom and famed screener Tomas Holmstrom were among that group, along with Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund who were all reaching the waning years of their career. Only Forsberg was part of the '94 gold medal run, and only he and Lidstrom would last until 2010 to play at the Vancouver games.
Aiding these established vets, a new crop of Swedish talent had risen up the ranks. Of course, the Sedin twins were the most notable new additions to the squad, but some younger talent in Red Wings players Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall were also a part of the team.
The stars aligned, literally, for Sweden to emerge glorious at its own Olympics. Sweden earned a spot in the quarterfinal by going 3-2 with six standings points. It beat Switzerland in the quarterfinals and the Czech Republic in the semis.
In the gold medal game against Finland, Zetterberg and Kronwall scored twice in the second period of a game that entered the third tied 2-2. That didn't last long. Off an assist from Sundin, Lidstrom scored 10 seconds into the period for what would stand as the golden goal.
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Today, we look back at that 2006 golden Swedish run with this article from The Hockey News contributor Sven Gustavsson
"How Swede it is For Nation's Best" by Sven Gustavsson
March 14, 2006 / Vo. 59, Issue 25
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Sweden’s best Winter Olympics ever was capped with the greatest victory ever by the country’s most cherished group of athletes.
The Swedish national men’s hockey team – also known as ‘Tre Kronors’ – has been beloved since the 1950s, as evidenced by the 30,000-plus people that showed up to celebrate in Stockholm the day after the Olympic gold medal victory over Finland.
Sure, Sweden has seven gold medals from world championships. And yes, Peter Forsberg’s shootout goal against Canada – later immortalized on a postage stamp – gave Sweden the Olympic gold in Lillehammer in 1994.
But the 2006 Olympics are the first and only time Sweden has won a true “best-on-best” world tournament. And that’s what makes this gold so special, especially for Swedish hockey fans who have become grudgingly accustomed to watching their best young players migrate to the NHL.
Over the years, Sweden has not lived up to expectations on the international ice. When NHLers were first allowed to go to the Olympics, for example, high hopes ultimately gave way to disappointment: at Nagano in 1998, Sweden lost to Finland in the quarterfinal; and, at Salt Lake City in 2002, there was the disastrous quarterfinal loss to lowly Belarus.
So, Turin represented a chance for Olympic redemption. It likely also was the last chance for this first generation of Swedish NHL mega-stars – Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Nicklas Lidstrom and maybe Daniel Alfredsson, too – to win something together.
And, to the ecstasy of a nation, they did win. ‘The Golden Generation,’ as they have been called, at last captured the gold. ■
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