The junior crowns broke a long gold drought and one of the things that stood out was team cohesion.
It can also be a success factor for Tre Kronor in the Olympics.
All Swedes put the team before themselves and we should be very grateful for that, says Mike Helber, strategic sports director at the Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
Last Thursday, the Junior crowns landed on Swedish soil again after the gold success in Minnesota.
Sweden’s first JVM gold in 14 years and the biggest blue-and-yellow hockey success since Tre Kronor’s WC gold in 2018.
The years since the WC gold in Copenhagen have been fringed with question marks for Swedish ice hockey and the lack of gold at senior and oldest junior level.
The Swedish model has been questioned.
“Believe in what we do”
The American Mike Helber – who has lived in Sweden since 1992 – believes that the question marks can be replaced with exclamation marks.
We Swedes are very good at questioning our models, now we know it works. Of course we should question things and make them better. Nor should we become cocky in a false way, but we must believe in what we do.
After all, this is proof that a small country with 10–11 million people can compete with the USA, which is ten times as big and with Canada, which is five times as big, says Helber, strategic sports manager since the fall of 2024 with the task of making Swedish ice hockey the best in the world.
The strong team cohesion in JVM, highlighted by several of the players, is something that can also be a success factor in the Olympics.
Gabriel Landeskog ahead of the WC 2017. Archive image.
Photo: Marcus Ericsson/TT
“Unbelievably good job”
Tre Kronor has a short time together before the Olympics, but most of the team played together in the Four Nations last winter and several of the players have been in recent years’ WC.
Sweden is extremely good at this and Swedish players are humble. What I have heard about, for example, Gabriel Landeskog and that he is a fantastic leader… I don’t know him at all, but there are small, small things and I think that can be decisive. I saw Jack Berglund in JVM, who did an unimaginably good job as team captain, says Helber.
When asked what the JVM gold means for Swedish ice hockey, he highlights the interest, but above all the hockey high schools around the country.
The sports gymnasiums in Sweden are unique in the world in that they create training times during the day for the young people. We must protect that to one hundred percent, says Helber.
Mike Helber did not go with the team home to Sweden, but instead goes to the women’s junior WC (U18) which starts on Sunday in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The hopes?
I hope we can compete with virtually all countries. Canada and the USA are the best, but we are currently aiming to be the best in Europe in everything we do. It is from our U18 girls all the way up to the Women’s Crowns. I hope we can show this, he says.
