The sensational defeat of the Swedish national team against Canada in the 1/4 final match of the World Hockey Championship caused criticism against Tre Krunur players and especially the head coach of the Swedes Yukhan Garpenlev. It is worth remembering that Sweden was leading 3-0 in the match and they won 3-1 with two minutes remaining in regular time, but they conceded two goals in the end and the Canadians gave the game over to overtime. And in extra time, star forward William Nylander was suspended from the Swedes and mostly Matthew Barzal led Canada to the semi-finals.

For Swedish fans and observers, this caused a deja vu effect as it was a similar story to the Three Crowns at the Beijing Olympics. In the group stage match against Finland, the Swedes were also leading 3-0, but conceded three goals in the third period and Harri Pesonen brought the win to the Finns in overtime. This Swedish team was of course led by the same Johan Garpenlev.

“Garpenlev and his team again lost the lead by three goals. Canada reversed the tide of the game and advanced to the semi-finals, and Garpenlev went down in history as the worst manager in our history. A more brutal ending could not be imagined. Of course, everything can be attributed to bad luck, but you cannot give a positive assessment of this performance. It feels like a repeat of the awkward match against Finland in Beijing.

Once again, the fear of losing was more than the will to win, and the head coach must take full responsibility. If this happened once – so be it, it could be an accident and bad luck. But twice is too much. Garpenlev made history as the first coach to not win a medal neither at the World Championships nor at the Olympics. At the World Championships in Riga last year, the team under his leadership took a lousy ninth place. They finished fourth at the Olympics, now they flew in the quarterfinals.

Sweden had excellent opportunities to score more goals and goalkeeper Ullmark did not concede the most mandatory goals. But you remember Håkan Sedegren’s words when he said that in hockey nothing is more difficult than to be the leader with a score of 3:0. Canada was leading 19-1 in the third period and I don’t know when was the last time Sweden set such a bad record. Probably, it happened in the matches against the Russians in the days of the Soviet Union, ” – Aftonbladet noted columnist mats.

“It was one of the hardest days of my sports career,” admitted Garpenlev, who played very well in the mid-1990s. The Swede, who plays for the San Jose Sharks, fits perfectly into the top three Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarovthanks to this, the Sharks made a good sound in the playoffs.

“He had to endure a lot of criticism. So much dirt has been spilled on it! The criticism did not stop for a moment, and it seems to me that it was unfair. He’s a very good coach and a good person.”– said the striker Carl Klingberg.

“What is there to evaluate? This is a big failure. They played very defensively and cowardly. Too early they began to retreat and cling to their doorstep. All leaders and the coach are responsible in such a situation, they had to make sure that the course of the game was not just defensive.– the expert said in the broadcast of SVT Jonas Andersson.

“From the very beginning I didn’t like the way Garpenlev worked and how he positioned himself. I’m sure at the end of the match it should be experienced players, veterans, not juniors on the ice.“, – the expert of the Viaplay channel absolutely Eric Granquist.

Now the former coach of the Swedish national team does not spare criticism even the fact that during his tenure in this post his parents died.

“I’m going home tomorrow, my father’s funeral next week. Of course I’m very disappointed that we won the medal. But elite level hockey is tough. I want to stay in hockey and continue working as a head coach somewhere. Let’s see what the offers are.“, – said Garpenlev, who was known even before the start of the World Cup, in which he left.

“This is nothing but a colossal failure” Expressen’s author is bleakly ironic sunny Lindström. – Both Swedish hockey and especially Johan Garpenlev needed a victory against Canada. What caused the defeat – whether the Swedes stopped playing or the Canadians added in, I don’t know. It’s probably a combination of the two. Canada always believes in its strength and plays to the fullest – this is and always has been the greatest strength of Canadians. And Sweden put little pressure on his opponent, he was very passive.

There are still many NHL players refusing to join the national team. It took a lot of work to understand why so many players said no after Per Morts left the national team in 2016. Now this work needs to be done again. Before the 2022 World Cup, the Swedish national team was fifth in the standings, now we are down to seventh place.”