On Sunday, Sweden defeated Canada for the first time ever during an IIHF World Championship gold medal game. This was the first time Sweden has earned a gold medal since 2013, denying Canada’s quest to repeat for the third-straight year.
All the Swedes were very excited over the championship victory, but nothing will top William Nylander’s reaction.
The tiny forward tackled Henrik Lundqvist.
Let me set the scene. After Lundqvist stopped Mitch Marner, Canada’s last resort during the shootout, Nylander came flying off the bench and violently hugged his goaltender to the ice.
Nylander continued to embrace Lundqvist while the rest of the team skated over to celebrate.
A Leafs fan created a video with vintage commentary from WWE’s Jim Ross.
@TLNdc got the audio pic.twitter.com/C8TPkxuL94
— Andy Cole (@AndyCole84) May 21, 2017
And here’s the photo sequence.
Photos via @iandmclaren
After the game, IIHF’s Olga Khmylev asked Nylander if he apologized to Hank for his over-exuberant celebration.
“Oh yeah, I did,” Nylander said laughing. “He said it was okay though.”
Thankfully, Lundqvist will have the entire summer to recover from the hit.
The last time Sweden beat Canada in a gold medal game was during the 1994 Olympics. NHL players weren’t allowed to participate in the Olympics back then and Peter Forsberg scored this legendary shootout goal.
Nylander was awarded the MVP award of the tournament. He led the team in points (7 goals, 7 assists) through 10 games while on a line centered by Nicklas Backstrom during the final week of the tournament.
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