Sweden's Lidstrom retires from Olympic play
Peter Forsberg not far behind in passing the torch
Last Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2010 | 1:18 PM ET
The Associated Press
Swedish defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom says he's played his last Olympic hockey following Wednesday's 4-3 loss to Slovakia. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Nicklas Lidstrom, one of the most accomplished defencemen in hockey history, says he's played in his last Olympics with Sweden.
Former NHL MVP Peter Forsberg may well be joining him in Olympic retirement.
Age finally caught up with the defending Olympic champion Swedes late Wednesday as Slovakia raced past them and into the semifinals of the Vancouver Games with a 4-3 victory.
"I'm not going to be part of any more Olympics as a player," said the 39-year-old Lidstrom, who has won six of the last eight Norris Trophy awards as the NHL's top defenceman.
Lidstrom's final play was a shot with three seconds remaining from atop the left faceoff circle that Slovak goalie Jaroslav Halak saved.
Halak did more than that. He ended an era of Swedish hockey. Lidstrom just drifted toward his bench, bent over at the waist and skated around aimlessly while the Slovaks celebrated their biggest hockey win as a nation.
"A big disappointment," Lidstrom said, dropping his head. "A huge disappointment."
The four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings scored the gold-medal winning goal against rival Finland four years ago in Turin. He had talked last week about becoming the first two-time Olympic champion since all the world's best players were able to compete.
Forsberg, 36, lifted Sweden to its first Olympic gold medal in 1994 — the last one without NHL players — with a shootout goal against Canada. That moment was captured on a Swedish postage stamp. The two-time Stanley Cup winner added to his legacy at the opening ceremony to these Games by carrying his country's flag.
Moments after Wednesday night's loss, he all but closed the book on his Olympic career.
"I don't want to talk about an era right now," Forsberg said, solemnly. "Obviously, you can look at the birth certificates and know we are not going to play too many more."
The 2003 NHL scoring champion and 1995 rookie of the year has excelled despite injuries his whole career. Pain has limited him to just 20 games for Modo in Sweden over the last two seasons, since he left the NHL for a team in his hometown of Ornskoldsvik. Last week he admitted "this is probably my last shot" at a gold medal.
Forsberg and Lidstrom are two of six players who are 31 or older on the Swedish team, which was a step behind the Slovaks when it mattered most.
Age was a virtue in the second period, when Forsberg sent an exquisite, no-look pass off his backhand from behind the net onto the stick of Patric Hornqvist. Hornqvist converted that perfect feed to cut Slovakia's lead to 2-1, and Henrik Zetterberg tied it 37 seconds later.
But age caught up to the Swedes on defence. Slovakia continually beat them to pucks around Sweden's goal to create prime scoring chances. And when Lidstrom could not get back fast enough midway through the third period to keep Slovakia's Tomas Kopecky, who is 11 years younger, from breaking in free on goalie Henrik Lundqvist, the Slovaks were back up by two goals.
It provided to be the deciding goal — and the end of a glorious Olympic era for Sweden.
"I don't think I was good enough in this tournament," Forsberg said. "This is not the way we wanted to end."
