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Salo's family harassed in Sweden
Associated Press
CANONSBURG, Pa. — Edmonton Oilers goalie Tommy Salo's family has been harassed since he allowed the winning goal in Sweden's stunning Olympic hockey loss to Belarus, according to Pittsburgh goalie Johan Hedberg.
Sweden's fans took the loss hard, with newspapers ridiculing the players — particularly Salo, the former Utah Grizzlies star who helped his country win a gold medal in 1994.
One newspaper published the players' pictures and NHL salaries and called them guilty of betraying their country. Another paper called it "a day of shame."
"It's been tough for him," said Hedberg, who is Salo's friend and was his backup in the Olympics. "People back home been (complaining) to his parents, have been mean to them. Even his sister's kids in school, the other kids have been mean to them.
"It's just ridiculous."
Hedberg doesn't understand why family members are being singled out.
"For his sister's kids back home in Sweden to be getting ripped on, it's terrible," Hedberg said Tuesday. "It's such a bad thing. It's sports, and it's big, but it's sports. To us, we can take it, as long as they leave the relatives alone."
Salo, the star of Sweden's gold-medal winning team in 1994, allowed the winning goal to bounce in off the side of his head in Belarus' 4-3 quarterfinal victory Wednesday — one of the three biggest Olympic hockey upsets ever.
Sweden was the only team to win all its games in round-robin pool play (3-0) and seemed destined for a semifinal rematch with Canada. Belarus went on to lose to Canada 7-1, giving the Canadians an easy game before they beat the United States 5-2 Sunday for the gold medal.
Despite the startling loss, Salo said the experience won't ruin his confidence, saying, "We were the only team that beat Canada. It can't be too bad."
Salo has read the derogatory newspaper articles, Hedberg said.
"I don't think it's going to break him," Hedberg said. "He said he read everything just to read it and, to me, that makes me stronger. Me, I don't need to see it. But if you read it and you think it makes you stronger, it's good."
Hedberg was disappointed that Sweden didn't play Canada again after beating the Canadians 5-2 in the first game of pool play.
Hedberg didn't blame Sweden's innovative "torpedo" system for the loss, but agreed it was difficult to run the big-ice offense against a team such as Belarus.
The torpedo system is designed to create a fast-flowing game with long up-ice passes by using one defenseman as a forward to spread out defenses. Belarus countered by stacking up in the neutral zone, creating turnovers that led to scoring chances.
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February 27, 2002
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