The first legs of the Champions Hockey League semi-finals are only a week away. However, for Axel Holmstrom of Skelleftea AIK and other players for the Swedish national junior team, the losses in their last two games at the IIHF World Junior Championship will be hard to forget about. 

by David Jahoda

TORONTO – Through the group stage and the quarter-final, the Swedes looked unbeatable. They won all five games in regulation time and outscored their opponents 24–9 with a devastating power play and perfect penalty killing. However, in the Sunday's semi-final against Russia their hopes for a gold medal were dashed with a 4–1 defeat in which their power play was shut out and their penalty kill was scored against – both tournament firsts. Then Monday's bronze-medal game, they fell 4–2 to Slovakia to leave empty-handed.

For eight players on the team, including 18-year-old Skelleftea AIK forward Axel Holmstrom, who recorded one goal and six assists in seven games, the first legs of the CHL semi-finals are only a week away. However, as he revealed following the loss to Slovakia, the disappointment of this IIHF World Junior Championship will not be easy to get over.  

You have to be disappointed with the loss. What do you think the reason is?

We had a bad start, I don't know why. We wanted to finish well and play with pride and that's not what we did today. We wanted to go home with a medal and now it's a very disappointing feeling. It's hard to describe.

Your team had such a great start to the tournament, winning the first five games. What changed in the last two?

Honestly I don't know. We played our worst hockey these past two games when we were supposed to play our best. That's not good enough. It's a little bit embarrassing. 

Was it difficult to get up for the bronze medal after the disappointment of losing in the semi-final?

No I don't think so. It was a tough game yesterday and we wanted to show everybody here that we're a good team. We have a lot of '95s here who played their last game for the national junior team and we wanted to win for them. Our captain (Jacob de la Rose) played his 100th game for the national junior team and his last one as well, so we wanted to win for him too. We had a lot of reasons to win, so it's tough.

This was your first World Junior Championship. What do you think of your own individual performance?

I think it went okay. I think I played well during the group stage, but like the rest of the team I think I played worse these last two games when I should have played my best, so right now I don't feel happy at all. 

Now you'll be returning to your Skelleftea AIK club. Have you started thinking yet about the upcoming SHL schedule or the Champions League semi-finals?

Right now I'm not even thinking of that yet. It's a long flight home but at some time point I'll be rejoining the club. There's a lot more hockey coming up and I'll have to focus on that when it comes.