Sweden lost the World Cup opener against Canada 3-5, but shook the gold favorite, who is littered with NHL stars.
The Swedish junior players stood up against stars like Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini and Ryan O'Reilly.
Afterwards, Sidney Crosby came up to Björck in the mixed zone and gave him words of praise.
"It's tough, you have to work hard out there and they are incredibly skilled, but it's still an awesome experience," says Björck, who at 18 years and 64 days old became Tre Kronor's youngest World Cup debutant.
Plus in the statistics
Linemate Ivar Stenberg, 18 years and 227 days, made it to sixth place on that list. The duo formed the first line with Detroit star Lucas Raymond, who scored one of the goals.
Björck and Stenberg were scoreless, but the Djurgården center did show a 9–8 plus-minus. Both had almost 19 minutes of playing time.
Sweden recovered from both 0–2 and 2–3 deficits and shook the Canadians, who, however, decided the game in the third period with two goals.
Stenberg was at the center of the action: he had a goal disallowed for a high stick, was video reviewed for a match penalty for a cross-check but was given two minutes, and had a huge opportunity at the beginning of the third period at 3–3 when he missed the puck in an open position.
"Good puck by Raymond, it went under the blade or right next to it," says Stenberg.
“A little naive”
Jack Berglund, Färjestad, was the third junior from the JVM gold team and accounted for two assists in twelve minutes of playing time. But he downplayed the two assists.
"I'm here to win matches and go far in the tournament, so that's not the focus."
National team captain Sam Hallam was pleased with the juniors.
"Great, just like the team they are, they are growing into the game. Perhaps especially in the third you see self-confidence in their play, Ivar dares to hold the puck, Viggo plays his usual game and Jack wins close games," says Hallam, summarizing the loss:
"We come out and are a little naive and scattered in our game. Then we are a completely different team from the second period onwards. It's sad to lose, but there are things to take away from it, both positive and things we need to fix."
