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Sweden is forced to go to the junior WC without their national team captain. On Tuesday, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association announced that Tomas Montén is infected with corona. “Of course, the situation feels incredibly sad,” he says.
With just over two weeks to go before the world junior ice hockey championships, Sweden has been hit hard by the corona virus. During home camp, several players tested positive, and the following heavy message arrived on Tuesday.
The Swedish Ice Hockey Association announces that the captain of the national team Tomas Montén has tested positive. This means that Montén will not be allowed to travel with the team to Canada and the JVM bubble in Edmonton.
Montén was negative in a rapid test, but the more accurate PCR test was positive.
Additionally, assistant coach Anders Lundberg and video coach Adam Almqvist also received positive test results.
The Montén test was held on Sunday, the ice hockey association states on its website.
– I feel good and I have no symptoms, I continue to isolate myself. Of course, the situation feels incredibly sad. I recently received the message and I must land on this, but it feels good that we, together with the union leadership, are reviewing all the alternatives for the future, Montén says in a statement.
Four players also left
This means that Sweden has large gaps in its coaching staff with a few days until departure to Canada.
The idea is that Sweden, Finland and Russia travel with the same chartered plane.
– Obviously, it is a worrying and difficult situation in which our ultimate responsibility is the safety of the players and leaders. We’ve done a solid job testing and isolating both the players and the leaders. Based on that, it feels satisfying that we have a working system and structures where we detect infection at an early stage, says Johan Stark, general secretary of the ice hockey association.
Strong says Sweden is now in close contact with the International Ice Hockey Federation.
– Now we have the challenge of complementing the management staff based on time and sports perspective. This is a serious situation from a security perspective and we must follow this hour by hour.
During the JVM camp, four Swedish players also tested positive for the coronavirus. These are William Eklund, Karl Henriksson, William Wallinder, and Albin Grewe.
Therefore, they also miss the tournament. In order to go to the junior WC, the team members must leave three negative crown tests before departure.
The Junior Ice Hockey World Cup begins on Christmas Day.
