Canada and Sweden will meet Sunday for the gold medal in men’s hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and when the puck drops, there will be nine Canadians on the ice.
That’s not because Canadian head coach Mike Babcock found some sort of super-secret Olympic hockey rule loophole, though. That’s because three of the four on-ice officials picked to officiate the gold medal game are from Canada. The fourth official, Brad Meier, was born in the United States. However, he lives in Calgary now, so that’s another wrinkle to the story.
Former NHL star and now Swedish hockey official Peter Forsberg is not happy about that one bit. Forsberg weighed in with a text to a Swedish publication to let his feelings known.
“What a f—ing joke!” Forsberg said, according to a Google translation of the Swedish website. “Canadian judges in the finals, also supervisor plus reserves. Comedy at the highest level.”
Forsberg’s feelings aren’t publicly shared by the Swedish team and its coaching staff, though.
“I don’t care,” Swedish coach Par Marts said, according to the Toronto Star. “I hope they do their job. That’s all I can focus on. I can’t change it. No problem with that.”
Forsberg became a national hero with his shootout goal to beat the Canadians during the 1994 Olympics.
