Sweden looking to bounce back and battle for medal
By Radoslav Vavřina, Lead Writer, The Czech List
BŘECLAV, CZE – Last year’s Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup was a tragedy for Swedish hockey. Led by superstar forward William Nylander, they failed in the group stage and then had to battle for seventh place with the Slovaks. Tre Kronor would win that game by the score of 11-0, but that now they are ready to forget the year-old embarrassment and write a brand new chapter.
In the goal, Swedes are going to have one of the two members of their very even-sided tandem. One of its members, Adam Werner from Färjestad, even played at the Ivan Hlinka last year, appearing in one game after being inserted into the lineup in relief of injured netminder Jesper Eriksson. After that, he also played in nine SuperElit games and played pretty well. The other goalie is Felix Sandström from Brynäs who hasn’t been as impressive in club hockey, but in April he went to Finland as a member of the Under-18 national team.
The defensive corps in front of these two have a clear leader. Big versatile defenseman of Swedish and Eritrean citizenship Oliver Kylington has played among pros for almost a year now and Future Considerations rank him first among European (not just European-based) prospects for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and second among all defensemen. Helping this huge talent out with the defense will be offensive blueliner Lucas Carlsson and versatile D-man Jonathan Léman.
Leading the attack will be Jönköping native Filip Ahl who was also one of the leaders of the Swedish Under-17 national team at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge last year. In addition, he played in three games among pros for his hometown team, HV71. One of the top talents for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Rasmus Asplund, should have a big role as well as he was the captain of the U-17 WHC team. Goals should be provided by Einar Emanuelsson who’s proved that’s what he does at the Under-18 level.
This time around, Team Sweden will be based in Piešťany, Slovakia, for most of the tournament. Monday is the day they open the tourney by facing the Slovaks, following are Tuesday matchup against Canada and Wednesday matinee with Switzerland.
Roster
Goaltenders
Felix Sandström (Brynäs)
Adam Werner (Färjestad)
Defensemen
Philip Alftberg (Brynäs)
Alexander Younan (HV71)
Lucas Carlsson (Brynäs)
Oliver Kylington (Färjestad)
Jacob Larsson (Frölunda)
Gabriel Carlsson (Örebro)
Jonathan Léman (MODO)
Forwards
Jonathan Dahlén (HV71)
John Dahlström (Frölunda)
Filip Ahl (HV71)
Rasmus Asplund (Färjestad)
Jonathan Davidsson (Djurgården)
Einar Emanuelsson (Luleå)
Oliver Erixon (Frölunda)
Carl Grundström (MODO)
Linus Ölund (Brynäs)
Jens Lööke (Brynäs)
Anton Kalte (Timrå)
Philip Magnusson (Rögle)
Joel Eriksson Ek (Färjestad)
Photo courtesy of Eva Solaříková
