Joel Erickson Eck | Photo: “Tre Kronor”
Goalkeepers Filips Gustavsson and Jespers Valsted, defender Jonas Brodins, as well as forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Markus Johansson have joined the Swedish hockey team, which will be the opponent of the Latvian national team in the world championship.
The 25-year-old Gustavsson shared playing time with the legendary Marc-Andre Fleury in the “Wild” fortress this season – the Swede played in 45 matches, which is his career record, while the Canadian played in 40 games. Gustavsson shot 89.9% and allowed a 3.06 goals-against average to help Minnesota to 19 wins. He also has three “dry” games on his account. Valstead, meanwhile, played in three NHL games, spending most of the season with the Wild in the AHL, where he had a 91% save percentage and an average of 2.7 RPA in 45 games.
Brodin is one of the Wild’s leading defenders – the 30-year-old hockey player collected 27 (7+20) points in 62 games this season, including an average of 23 minutes and 22 seconds spent on the field, which was the second highest score on the team. On the other hand, 27-year-old Eriksson Eck was the third most productive player of the Wild, scoring 67 (30+37) points in 77 matches, while Johansson had 30 (11+19) points this season.
All these hockey players have little experience in world championships – Brodin has participated in two tournaments, Voldstedt, Gustavsson and Eriksson Eck have competed in one world championship, but the upcoming championships will be the debut of the most experienced player from this team, 33-year-old Johansson, who has a silver medal in 2014. year’s Olympic Games.
Therefore, Sweden already has 10 NHL players before the World Championship. Buffalo Sabers hockey players Rasmus Dalins and Viktor Olofsson, Pittsburgh Penguins representatives Erik Karlsson and Markus Johansson, as well as Andre Burakovskis from Seattle Kraken have already joined the national team. It is also expected that the national team will be supplemented by Philadelphia Flyers puck catcher Samuel Erson.
Sweden will play in Group B with Latvia, USA, Germany, Slovakia, France, Kazakhstan and Poland at the World Championship. It should be reminded that last year Latvia defeated Sweden in the 1/4 finals, overcoming this tournament barrier for the first time in history.
