What is it with this Norway?
They cleaned house in the Olympics in Cortina and are a gold candidate in this summer’s World Cup football.
Now they beat Sweden in the hockey World Cup with 3-2 and every single player looked like they were Erling Haaland the whole bunch.
With egos as big as Hardangervidda.
During the Olympics, I claimed that hockey was Sweden’s last bastion in the fight against little brother there in the west.
Now it too has fallen.
Temporarily, of course, and with far from all NHL stars in place in this World Cup.
But still.
The sensational victory showed everything that Norwegian sport stands for today.
Confidence, irreverence and the belief that nothing is impossible.
Against Sam Hallam’s national team, where the so successful club coach from Växjö is heading for another fiasco.
A team completely inferior on paper beat his last Three Crowns at full time.
He was also outclassed purely tactically by Norwegian national team captain Petter Thoresen.
The Norwegians’ first period was decisive, where they set the tone with their aggressiveness and physical play and the Swedes never recovered from it.
I can only congratulate.
I was there when Norway beat Tre Kronor for the first time in a WC in Slovakia in 2011.
Then I was excessively cocky before the match and promised to wear a lice jacket for the rest of the WC tournament if Sweden lost.
It was 5-4 to Norway after penalties.
I have not forgiven Per-Åge Skröder since then.
It was he who imposed the decisive penalty and our Norwegian sister newspaper VG had of course picked up on what I promised.
They looked for a Norwegian exchange student there in Bratislava, who had of course brought a warm and prickly lice cardigan from his home country.
Not only did I have to endure the humiliation of having it inflicted by World Cup defender Ole Kristian Tollefsen’s strong pinches, but I had to sweat through the rest of the Hockey World Cup in 30-degree Bratislava.
Now I can avoid it.
At least.
Norway need not be ashamed
But what scares the most is that Sweden was not superior this time.
They also conceded two goals in numerical superiority, which has been the Swedes’ flagship in this tournament.
No, Norway need not be ashamed of this victory.
It wasn’t luck.
Now, I’m not going to call this Sweden’s worst loss ever, because nothing beats the quarter-final loss to Belarus in the Olympics in Salt Lake City 2002.
Also, it’s still group stage only.
It’s not a complete disaster.
And the last time the Swedes lost in the group stage against Norway in 2011, the team went to a WC final against Finland in the end.
It won’t happen this time.
I do not promise to take poison on it, as I remember the 1992 World Cup when the Swedes looked even worse in the group stage with a similar team and then woke up and went all the way in the playoffs.
But Sam Hallam is no Conny Evensson.
The truth is that the Swedes don’t even have the matter in their own hands anymore and have to beat Slovakia in the last match.
And everyone knows how quickly things can change in hockey.
But it is also the last hope right now.
WC’s to be or not to be has been a topic of discussion since I made my first one in 1983.
I’m torn.
Especially as things stand today with both Russia and Belarus shut down and enough blueberries to feed a whole family of bears before hibernation.
And a group game that feels like forever.
Yet not only does the tournament survive year after year.
It is a hockey party in most of the participating countries.
And nowadays, when I follow the tournament from the TV sofa after almost 40 World Cup tournaments in place, I can feel that it is still a bit boring to sit and zap between the matches.
In Zurich, it’s definitely a hockey party every time the home nation Switzerland plays and they pour in goals in a way I haven’t seen since the days of the old Soviet Union.
They have impressed me enormously and have been the WC’s best team so far. And definitely the most fun to watch.
And it was lively in the stands when the Czechs beat Slovakia on Saturday afternoon.
A classic meeting where veteran Roman Cervenka’s 3-2 almost guaranteed second place in the group.
No, the World Cup goes on whatever we think and I can’t see an end.
Next year it will be Düsseldorf and Mannheim, although the Germans were the only ones to apply together with Kazakhstan.
And in 2028, the French Paris and Lyon are the hosts, where both Kazakhstan (again) and Norway withdrew from the bidding.
But it’s never goodbye to the WC, but always see you again.
