The fate of Team Sweden at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics men’s hockey tournament is now up in the air. Coach Sam Hallam and Co. will have to face Latvia in a single elimination game to decide who moves on to the quarterfinals. A big talking point has been whether who will be chosen to defend the goal for the 2006 Olympics gold medalist. Will it be New Jersey Devils‘ Jacob Markstrom or one of the two Minnesota Wild goalies in Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt?
Swedes already made a decision
Coach Hallam seems to have already picked among the three. The whole of Team Sweden has already communicated to the starting goalie that he will be out there against Latvia. However, Olympics hockey and NHL fans alike will not be afforded the privilege to know before the game, via Dan Rosen of NHL.com.
“It’s a gut feeling from my side. It’s a discussion with our goalie coach and the rest of the staff. I think we’re good. I like that we have two goalies in the tournament, they’ve both been out there. Hopefully we made the right decision,” the Team Sweden head coach declared.
In the span of the past three games for Team Sweden, Coach Hallam has played two of his goalies. Gustavsson started in two of their games. The Wild goalie notched 20 saves against Italy in a 5-2 win. He then could not block shots efficiently against Finland as Sweden lost with a rough 4-1 loss.
Markstrom, on the other hand, got to play against Slovakia. The Devils goalie saved 29 shots which was just enough to give Sweden the 5-3 win. However, Wallstedt has not been able to see any playing time at all in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. This comes as a surprise to most fans because he is one of the top favorites to win the Vezina Trophy for 2026. His talents in getting the Wild out of sticky situations in the NHL are said to be getting wasted on the bench as claimed by some fans.
Regardless, this decision will be crucial to whether or not Sweden remains in contention for the Olympics gold medal. Coach Hallam has already decided which means it will now just be a matter of the goalie being mentally prepared and rested before they face Latvia.
