Forsberg Skating Again
Peter Forsberg has resumed skating again for the first time since May 10th when he had surgery to remove his spleen. At home in Sweden, the superstar center has been having on ice workouts for the past week and expects to be ready for his NHL teamates to join him in Europe.
Off the ice, Forsberg was joined by 13 other members of the Swedish Olympic team, in a manor north of Stockholm for a two day orientation camp. “It was good to come here and see the other guys and talk about how we should play,” he said. Four years after Forsberg scored the shootout goal to beat Canada at the Lillehammer Olympics, his team suffered a major setback when arch-rival Finland eliminated them from the Nagano games. He believes the 2002 tournament is anyone’s to win. “We had such a good team (in Nagano) it was really sad to lose to the Finns. This time, all six teams that don’t have to qualify have a chance to win it. Sweden is one of those teams, we’ll be hungry for revenge.”
Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom expects the North Americans to be much beter than they were in Japan. “Certainly both the U.S. and Canada will do better than they did in Nagano.”
Coach Hardy Nilsson and, former NYR star and current Swedish GM, Anders Hedberg still have 10 players to name to the squad before the Dec. 22 deadline.
Puckboy
Writer for the Oilers, the 2002 Olympics and Puck Sight can be reached at puckboy@hockeytraderumors.com