Djurgård talent Viggo Björck is one of six players from this winter's JVM gold team who will play a national team tournament with Tre Kronor for the second week in a row.
If he'd had his way, he would have missed the first one in Jönköping and the Czech Republic last week, but Björck was forced to decline playing in the U18 World Championship when he chose to complete the Swedish Championship final series with Djurgården's juniors.
“Put it behind us”
The Swedish Ice Hockey Association did not allow the forward to join the team later in Slovakia.
It feels like there's been quite a lot of talk about it, so I think we can put it behind us, says Björck on site in Ängelholm ahead of the Beijer Hockey Games.
The U18 national team won a World Championship gold medal on Saturday. Two weeks earlier, Djurgården had already settled the final series against Frölunda.
I'm incredibly happy that they won. It was incredible. You sat and watched, says Björck, who during his debut season in the SHL had seven goals and 11 assists in 45 games in the regular season and the playoffs when Djurgården was eliminated in the round of 16.
The center instead made his senior national team debut and scored a goal in the 8-1 win against Switzerland. All five outfield players from the JVM squad scored goals - defenseman Sascha Boumedienne scored two goals.
Björck also scored in the second match against the Czech Republic.
Of course it's a step up, he says about playing with Tre Kronor.
I think it's getting better and better. You get more comfortable and get into the game with every change and match that goes by. You just have to keep working on it.
The matches against the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Finland in Skåne will be the last chance to play for a place in the squad for the World Cup in Switzerland.
Can break the record
"It's always one match at a time, but you always hope to play in the World Cup. It would have been a dream. It would have been incredibly fun and powerful," says Viggo Björck.
Leo Carlsson is now a celebrated star in the NHL club Anaheim, but in the spring of 2023 the center became Tre Kronor's youngest World Cup player of all time.
Carlsson was 18 years and 136 days old when he played his World Cup debut against Germany in Tampere. A record that can now be broken.
If Viggo Björck is selected for this year's World Cup and gets to play, he will be 18 years and 64 days old when Canada awaits in the premiere on May 15 in Fribourg.
Last winter, Sweden won its third gold medal in the JVM all-time and six of the players were in Tre Kronor in Fortuna Hockey Games last week.
Here are the players' results in the three matches against Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Finland:
+ Ivar Stenberg, forward, Frölunda: 2 goals/3 assists.
+ Sascha Boumedienne, defender, Boston University: 2 goals/1 assist.
+ Viggo Björck, b, Djurgården: 2 goals.
+ Jack Berglund, f, Färjestad: 1 goal/1 assist.
+ Anton Frondell, b, Chicago Blackhawks: 1 goal.
+ Love Härenstam, goalkeeper, Södertälje: saved 30 of 32 shots against Finland (3-2). Did not play the other two games.
All six players remain in the squad that will face the Czech Republic (Thursday), Switzerland (Saturday) and Finland (Sunday) in Ängelholm this week.
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Leo Carlsson, 18 years and 136 days, 12/5 2023.
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Nicklas Bäckström, 18 years and 173 days, 15/5 2006.
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Daniel Sedin, 18 years and 220 days, 4/5 1999.
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Henrik Sedin, 18 years and 222 days, 6/5 1999.
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Peter Forsberg, 18 years and 283 days, 28/4 1992.
Source: Swedish Ice Hockey Association.
