Olympics: Team Sweden 2010. What went wrong?

[Eye of Ra]

How did Sweden lose already in QF to Slovakia of all nations?

What players should have made it and which players should not have made it? Was the coach the problem?

In my eyes, the 2010 swedish team could have been the best swedish team ever. Atleast if we look at goalies and forwards, so losing already in QF to a lesser nation was a very big suprise.

The team in 2010 Olympics looked like this:

Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
Jonas Gustavsson, Toronto Maple Leafs
Stefan Liv, HV 71
Dmans:
Tobias Enström, Atlanta Thrashers
Magnus Johansson, Linköping
Nicklas Lidström, Detroit Red Wings
Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings
Douglas Murray, San José Sharks
Johnny Oduya, New Jersey Devils
Henrik Tallinder, Buffalo Sabres
Mattias Öhlund, Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards:
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators
Nicklas Bäckström, Washington Capitals
Loui Eriksson, Dallas Stars
Peter Forsberg, Modo
Tomas Holmström, Detroit Red Wings
Patric Hörnqvist, Nashville Predators
Fredrik Modin, Columbus Blue Jackets
Samuel Påhlsson, Columbus Blue Jackets
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Mattias Weinhandl, Dynamo Moskva
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

Coaches:

Bengt Åke Gustavsson
Tommy Albelin
Mattias Norström


As i see it, it was the coaching that was the problem. Bengt-Åke was really bad. His assistent coaches where rookies with no coaching experiance. Pär Mårts with his stab should have coached this tournament.

Players that should have not made it:

Stefan Liv (not better than Johan Hedberg).

Magnus Johansson (too soft for the small rinks, never made it to NHL)

Douglas Murray (not good enough, a goon).

Mattias Öhlund (was over the hill, we had better options).

Peter Forsberg (he was finished as a player and always injured, you can not get a spot just because you are a legend).

Patric Hörnqvist (was not very good at this time, not the player he is nowdays).

Fredrik Modin and Samuel Påhlsson (we had better options than this 2).

Mattias Weinhandl (what i said about Magnus Johansson can be said about Weinhandl too).


Players who should have made it instead:

Johan Hedberg (the best goalie we had behind Lundqvist).

Anton Strålman (was already at this time very good).

Alexander Edler (had 3 seasons of NHL under his belt).

Kim Johnsson (veteran with high quality).

Kristian Huselius (60 pointer with amazing skill set).

Alexander Steen (was a good NHLer already in 05-06 season).

Mikael Samuelsson (home ice, big gritty guy who puts up 50 points every NHL season).

Patrik Berglund (he was better at this time then he is nowdays, dominated in WC).

Marcus Nilson (good player to have as a 13th, he was a physical guy with decent skillset).

Linus Omark (the old version Omark could be a joker to have in a tournament like this, Omark today is nothing like he was back in the days, he lost his swagger even thought he is still a good player).

Hedman, Karlsson, Hjalmarsson was just rookies and none of them had a very good season. I dont see how they beat out the 2010 versions of Lidström, Enström, Kronwall as offensive players and i dont think Hedman, Karlsson, Hjalmarsson would do a better job than more experianced players in a defensive role such as Johnsson, Strålman, Oduya, Tallinder, Edler. Ofc if Hedman, Ek and Hjalmarsson was in prime they would be locks.

This is the lineup i would use:

Lundqvist starting all games, it was only 6-7 games at most in this tournament, he can handle it.


Nicklas Lidström - Kim Johnsson (yes Kim was that good, lately in his career he turned into a good defensive player).

Tobias Enström - Anton Strålman (Enström was a worldclass player at this time, Strålman covering up).

Niklas Kronwall - Alexander Edler (Kronwall just like Enström was world class at this time, i think Edler would be a good partner for him).

Johhny Oduya - Henrik Tallinder (The 2010 version of Tallinder was actually good, Odyuya was better than people thought at this time, shut down pair, would get few minutes).


Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Loui Eriksson (the sedins was the best players in the world year 2010, it was a shame how bad BÅG handle them, Loui is perfect for them, Loui was a 70 pointer at this time of his career).

Johan Franzen - Henrik Zetterberg - Mikael Samuelsson (Detroit connection, insane that Samuelsson did not make it, and BÅG did waste Franzen on the 4th line, he should play in a scoring line).

Kristian Huselius - Nicklas Bäckström - Daniel Alfredsson (Huselius is ten thousands times better than Weinhandl).

Alexander Steen - Patrik Berglund - Tomas Holmström (hardworkers who can put the puck in the net, this is so much better than over the hill Påhlsson and 43 years old Modin).

Marcus Nilson, Linus Omark (2 underated guys who could do a decent job).


Powerplay 1:

Sedin - Sedin - Holmström
Lidström - Kronwall

Powerplay 2:

Zetterberg - Bäckström - Alfredsson
Enström - Edler

Boxplay 1:

Franzen - Zetterberg
Lidström - Stålman

Boxplay 2:

Steen - Alfredsson
Kronwall - Johnsson

C - Zetterberg
A - Lidström
A - Alfredsson

I think my team would give Canada and USA a run for the gold. Do you agree?

Keep in mind that this tournament was played on small rinks in Canada.

Btw i think this section is the best to discuss this, the swedish section is dead and in history of hockey section there is not much intrest to discuss Sweden. This international tournaments section have always had good activity in the swedish threads.

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[Outofbodyinhungary]

In order to understand why Sweden loses to us, you must first understand Slovak nation and Slavs as a people. We truly are a strange people and somehow we always end up defeating the Germanic peoples (Swedes, Germans especially). It’s quite obviously genetic amongst the Slavs to leave it to the last moment throughout history to make up our minds and do something ex. (siege of Vienna, napoleons conquering, Nazis in 1943-45).
In terms of Slovaks defeating Swedes I think there was a final realization that well no one else will help us (Czechs, Russian, Hungarians). We really have low morale in general. So us slovaks said “f*** it why not for glory’s sake let’s actually have some pride and play for slovaks not nobody else.” In conclusion, Inspired Slovak = unstoppable

 

[kudla]

Have you seen the slovak roster in 2010? It was a 50/50 game

 

[LeafChief]

Have you seen the slovak roster in 2010? It was a 50/50 game

Can someone post it?

 

[kudla]

Can someone post it?

Peter Budaj (G)	36	1982	Banska Bystrica, SVK	185	89	L	NHL
#41		Jaroslav Halák (G)	33	1985	Bratislava, SVK	179	83	L	NHL
#35		Rastislav Stana (G)	38	1980	Kosice, SVK	185	90	L	KHL
DEFENSEMEN
#7		Ivan Baranka (D)	33	1985	Ilava, SVK	188	93	L	KHL
#33		Zdeno Chára (D) “C”	41	1977	Trencin, SVK	205	113	L	NHL
#68		Milan Jurcina (D)	35	1983	Liptovsky Mikulas, SVK	193	120	R	NHL
#14		Andrej Meszaros (D)	32	1985	Povazska Bystrica, SVK	188	99	L	NHL
#44		Andrej Sekera (D)	32	1986	Bojnice, SVK	183	91	L	NHL
#77		Martin Strbak (D)	43	1975	Presov, SVK	191	96	L	KHL
#17		Lubomir Visnovsky (D)	42	1976	Topolcany, SVK	177	87	L	NHL
FORWARDS
#23		Lubos Bartecko (LW/RW)	42	1976	Kezmarok, SVK	183	91	L	NLA
#8		Martin Cibák (C)	38	1980	Liptovsky Mikulas, SVK	186	89	L	KHL
#38		Pavol Demitra (C) “A”	1974	Dubnica, SVK	183	93	L	NHL
#10		Marián Gáborík (RW/LW) “A”	36	1982	Trencin, SVK	185	91	L	NHL
#26		Michal Handzus (C)	41	1977	Banska Bystrica, SVK	196	98	L	NHL
#91		Marcel Hossa (LW/RW)	36	1981	Ilava, SVK	187	99	L	KHL
#81		Marián Hossa (RW) “A”	39	1979	Stara Lubovna, SVK	187	94	L	NHL
#82		Tomas Kopecky (W/C)	36	1982	Ilava, SVK	190	95	L	NHL
#24		Zigmund Pálffy (RW)	46	1972	Skalica, SVK	179	83	L	Slovakia
#92		Branko Radivojevic (RW)	37	1980	Piestany, SVK	187	93	R	KHL
#18		Miroslav Satan (RW)	43	1974	Topolcany, SVK	188	88	L	NHL
#15		Jozef Stümpel (C)	46	1972	Nitra, SVK	191	99	R	KHL
#20		Richard Zednik (LW)	42	1976	Banska Bystrica, SVK	183	87	L	KHL

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[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[JackSlater]

I don't think that it was a particularly good Swedish roster. Great goaltending. Not a lot of depth on defence and Lidstrom was fading. Probably only enough forward talent to make two particularly dangerous lines. The team probably would have been more of a threat on the larger ice surface though. I think that the Detroit Swedes were still worn down somewhat from the previous few years as well.

Also, credit to the Slovakian team. Slovakia was still dangerous in 2010 and proceeded to nearly take Canada to overtime in the next game.

 

[moropanov]

Slovakia was good in 2010 they beat Russia and almost took Canada to OT, but still it wasnt 50-50 game againts Sweden maybe 70-30. Slovakias Roster was equal to that time's Finland and Czech >Sweden was clearly superior when comparing talent, but ofc team play counts for much chemistry and so on...

 

[Jahara]

This was truly a wasted opportunity for a Team Sweden with great potential and I blame B-Å Gustafsson for not picking the right team. He made some obvious mistakes by picking players from Europe like Magnus Johansson and Mattias Weinhandl. Neither one contributed anything and with other players it could have been different.

Forsberg, Modin and even Franzén were getting old and had their problems with injuries. That was why it didn't make sense picking 8 defensemen and just 12 forwards. In the QF against Slovakia, Modin was out and it wasn't possible to change much. With players like Samuelsson and Steen instead of Johansson and Weinhandl overall strength had been better. This time we were stuck with Weinhandl along the Sedins and it didn't work, altough the twins were at their peak.

Only the line with Eriksson-Bäckström-Alfredsson did really good offensively and Zetterberg had to centre a strange third line with Forsberg and Hörnqvist. Påhlsson did okay and Modin was surprisingly good and played with Franzén. It was right to pick Påhlsson just as Öhlund, Hörnqvist and Murray. Tallinder and Oduya could have been replaced with younger players like Hjalmarsson, Ericsson, Hedman or Strålman.

Lidström was still a class act and won his last Norris Trophy the year after. But he didn't play that good this tournament and Kronwall made a mistake in the QF. Otherwise this time was probably slightly better than in 2006 with Lundqvist a bit better, the Sedins, and a stronger D-side instead of limited players like Tjärnqvist, Hävelid, Bäckman and R. Sundin.

Sweden outshot Slovakia this time and could have won but B-Å Gustafsson didn't do that good in either picking the team or coaching in the last game. It would have been interesting seeing this team playing Canada in Canada in a semifinal.

 

[Elvs]

In 2010, a team that had Halak in net, Chara, Visnovsky, Sekera and Meszaros top 4 on defence, and Demitra, Gaborik and Hossa up front is good enough to beat any opponent in just one game. It's not that big of an upset. It's not any weirder than a bottom team in the NHL winning a game against one of the top teams every now and then.

 

[Boonk]

The Swedish team was severely overrated that year. Slovakia was still dangerous in international competition during that time as well and they proved it that tournament. They beat the Russians, gave Canada a scare in the semis and was about to win the bronze medal until the Fins came back.

Oh and they also knocked out the defending Olympic champions in the quarters...which was Sweden.

 

[Boonk]

In 2010, a team that had Halak in net, Chara, Visnovsky, Sekera and Meszaros top 4 on defence, and Demitra, Gaborik and Hossa up front is good enough to beat any opponent in just one game. It's not that big of an upset. It's not any weirder than a bottom team in the NHL winning a game against one of the top teams every now and then.

Slovakia was a force when they were all in their prime. Such a shame to see how far they've fallen since.

 

[lawrence]

nothing went wrong. I also honestly don't think Slovakia was the more dominant team. It's just hockey in a best of one, they took the lead, although Sweden controlled most of the play, they were never able to tie, it, and Slovakia won. More or less better asking what happened in 2002, losing to Belarus. In fact Canadian fans were happy to see them lose because we know how good Sweden was, and they were a threat to beat Canada, if we faced them head on. Your looking at prime Sedins, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, not a pretty game.

 

[alko]

The best overall team, that Slovakia had on paper, was in 2006. But in 2010, they played like a real team. Sweden was still favorite, but not so big. Like 60:40 to win before the game. When you saw also the game vs Canada in Semifinals, you must admit, the Sweden elimination wasnt a fluke. 2002 was, but not 2010.

 

[ZEBROA]

Foppa could stand still on one spot and still contribute more then the worst player on the team.

 

[Dominance]

In order to understand why Sweden loses to us, you must first understand Slovak nation and Slavs as a people. We truly are a strange people and somehow we always end up defeating the Germanic peoples (Swedes, Germans especially). It’s quite obviously genetic amongst the Slavs to leave it to the last moment throughout history to make up our minds and do something ex. (siege of Vienna, napoleons conquering, Nazis in 1943-45).
In terms of Slovaks defeating Swedes I think there was a final realization that well no one else will help us (Czechs, Russian, Hungarians). We really have low morale in general. So us slovaks said “**** it why not for glory’s sake let’s actually have some pride and play for slovaks not nobody else.” In conclusion, Inspired Slovak = unstoppable

Civics education in Slovakia sounds fun. The part about superior genetics is especially interesting.

Just as an outsider looking at Slovakian history, though, it doesn’t seem like you were inspired all too often.

 

[weklof]

I can just agree with everyone else, the major problem in this tournament was team selection. Since you could only pick 20 skaters, most teams went with the logical 13-7, but oh no, BÅG was afraid of D injuries and went with 12-8. Also he wanted to reward veteran players in Europe, so he gave Magnus Johansson and Mattias Weinhandl spots. I think his reasoning was that the Sedins and Weinhandl had really good chemistry in WJC and MoDo as juniors they could recapture it now. The problem was that, at that point, it was about 10 years since Weinhandl and the Sedins played together. They were unable to recapture their chemistry. Had we carried 13 forwards, Weinhandl would've been put on the bench and the Sedins would've had a new partner. But since we only had 12 forwards, Weinhandl had to play. The problem was that Weinhandl is a pure offence guy, not suitable for bottom-6 roles, so he was stuck with the Sedins dragging them down.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Have you seen the slovak roster in 2010? It was a 50/50 game

70-30 for sweden, and sweden could have been even better, some good players where missing and we had a bad coach.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Foppa could stand still on one spot and still contribute more then the worst player on the team.

not true, he was was really bad in all games.

 

[Eye of Ra]

nothing went wrong. I also honestly don't think Slovakia was the more dominant team. It's just hockey in a best of one, they took the lead, although Sweden controlled most of the play, they were never able to tie, it, and Slovakia won. More or less better asking what happened in 2002, losing to Belarus. In fact Canadian fans were happy to see them lose because we know how good Sweden was, and they were a threat to beat Canada, if we faced them head on. Your looking at prime Sedins, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, not a pretty game.

Sweden was excellent in 2002, good player choices from the coach, only Mathias Johansson and Jörgen Jönsson was bad choices, i would choose Magnus Wernblom and Fredrik Modin instead. We beat canada with 5-2, czech and germany. Playing-wise it was good too.

The game against Belarus was Tommy Salo to blame, he let in 4 soft goals. With Hedberg in net we would have won.

 

[Boonk]

70-30 for sweden, and sweden could have been even better, some good players where missing and we had a bad coach.

Actually no. Slovakia was still respectable and the countries stars were still in their prime. Their defense was much better than Swedens in Vancouver. Sugar coat it all you want.

 

[ZEBROA]

not true, he was was really bad in all games.

There is no way he was the worst player.

 

[Elvs]

Pahlsson was considered a lock by most people for that team. Him making it over Berglund wasn't the least controversial. Fredrik Modin, a more offensive oriented guy, but who clearly was no longer bringing production, making it over Samuelsson was the real headscratcher. Weinhandl and Johansson shouldn't have been there either, but the Swedish hockey federation always wanted a couple of SHL players on the team to promote the league or something. Thankfully those days seem to be over.