Peter Forsberg missed the 2002 Winter Olympics, but hopes to make his presence felt at the 2006 Torino games.

Forsberg's aim is to
salvage Sweden's pride
By John McGourty | NHL.com
Feb. 15, 2006

You would think that with all the international acclaim Peter Forsberg has amassed that he would have a plethora of Olympic highlights. Of course, everyone who follows hockey knows he scored the gold-medal goal on a shootout for Sweden in 1994, but there have been precious few highlights since then.

That's because Forsberg and the defending champion Swedes went quietly in the 1998 quarterfinals and Forsberg missed the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2001-02 NHL season while recovering from a ruptured spleen suffered in the 2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

So, Forsberg has been really looking forward to representing his country again at Torino, Italy. He's been fighting an abdominal tear -- or two -- that have caused him to miss the past eight Philadelphia Flyers games.

Forsberg is hoping the problem clears up in the next few days because he knows the Swedish people expect better results after what was seen a disastrous performance in 2002 at Salt Lake City. What started so well, ended so badly, and, in the process, the reputation of a great goalie, a national hero, was sullied.

It weighs on the Swedish players, none more so than Forsberg, who wasn't there to make a difference.

The Swedes started the 2002 Olympics by upsetting Canada, 5-2, as fellow 1994 hero Tommy Salo stopped 33 of 35 shots. Salo was even better in the Swedes' 2-1 victory over the Czechs, when he made 37 saves. But it all came apart in the elimination round when the Swedes played without enthusiasm and Salo fumbled an 80-foot slap shot that Belarus' Vladimir Kopat fired at the net with 2:28 remaining in regulation.

Salo lost sight of the puck before it hit him in the helmet and trickled into the net. Sweden lost, 4-3, in what Nicklas Lidstrom and Mats Sundin called the worst loss of their careers.

After Forsberg beat Canadian goalie Corey Hirsch in the 1994 shootout, Salo stopped Paul Kariya to seal the Swedish gold medal. The world seemed to forget that after the Belarus disaster.

Forsberg also remembers he was held scoreless in 1998 until he put in an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left in the quarterfinals when Finland won, 2-1, on a pair of Teemu Selanne third-period goals.

So, Swedish hockey stars have gone from the pinnacle of Olympic hockey 12 years ago to watching the last two medal ceremonies on television.

"Yeah, we got to hear it for a long, long time," Forsberg said. "Fortunately for me, I wasn't there. But I mean, we do have a little revenge there. Like I said, we got knocked out twice in the quarterfinals in the last two Olympics. For us, I think we'd like to go a little further than that.

"You know, it's just a short tournament, too. You're going to need some luck in the quarterfinals and the semis and a couple of bounces. Definitely, we're looking forward to this one. I think we feel pretty confident we have a good team and hopefully we can go far."

The Swedish team will be familiar to North American fans as most of the players are currently working in the NHL and have represented their country before in international events. The goalie will be new, however. Forsberg is excited about the performance this season of New York Rangers' goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who was the top goalie in the Swedish Elite League last year.

"We do have a good goalie. He's been playing great for the Rangers all year," Forsberg said. "He was outstanding in the Swedish League for a couple years, too. We definitely have a good outlet there. On the other hand, the other guys are getting older. It's almost our last Olympics with (Daniel) Alfredsson, me, (Mats) Sundin, (Nicklas) Lidstrom, (Markus) Naslund a few other guys. I think we do have a pretty good mix."

While Forsberg and Lidstrom have played together for their country, they were bitter rivals before this season when Forsberg played for the Colorado Avalanche and Lidstrom for the Detroit Red Wings. Colorado-Detroit games have been among the best in the NHL for a decade, in which Detroit won three Stanley Cups and Colorado two. They were so good in 2002-03 that Forsberg won the Hart Trophy (regular-season MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (scoring champion) and Lidstrom won his third-straight Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman.

The rivalry was such that kind words spoken about the opponent were as rare as a winter day this winter. So, with Forsberg now in Philadelphia, a Denver writer asked him to comment on Lidstrom's skills.

Forsberg has his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup twice, as well as an Olympic gold medal.

"The thing about Lidstrom is he's so mobile on his skates," Forsberg said. "And he's just not out of position, he's always in the right position. And, I don't know, you can't even hit him, he's just always gliding out of taking the hit.

"He's just a smooth player. Like I say, he moves on the ice so well, and it's tough to play against him, even if he doesn't play that physical, but he never really seems to be beat."

During the past five years, the Ottawa Senators have tormented the brawny Flyers with their speed. Their captain, Daniel Alfredsson, was the chief architect of the Senators' early round Stanley Cup Playoff victories over the Flyers in 2002 and 2003. The Flyers went to the Eastern Conference Finals two years ago when they didn't have to meet Ottawa in the postseason. Forsberg has to know that the Flyers had Alfredsson in mind when they signed him as an opposing center. They've met twice this season, with Philadelphia winning both times, and will meet twice more.

"He's an outstanding player, he's great on the ice," Forsberg said. " He's had experience, he's been a part of winning teams. I don't know, he's just -- if you look at it, he's just a great guy. Everybody looks at him and he's very likable, everybody likes him. You look up to him, what he does on the ice. He works so hard on the ice every single night and so smooth. He's been the captain up there for a while and just overall, a good leader and a good person."

Forsberg won his Olympic gold medal before he ever played in the NHL. He won the Stanley Cup in 1996, after his first full NHL season, and another in his sixth full season. A reporter asked him which championship was more important but even in his second language Forsberg skillfully ducked the trap with his nuanced answer.

"I try not to compare them. It's unbelievable to be part of a winning team, both the Olympics and the Stanley Cup," he said. "I used to see ... Olympic athletes draped with Olympic gold, while it's kind of every hockey player's dream to win a Stanley Cup. It's a little different, but I try not to compare them. It was unbelievable to win the gold medal and I just don't want to compare them."