Two Mountain View County kids have lasting memories of Team Sweden's visit to Olds prior to Christmas.
Team Sweden, which won the U-20 World Hockey Championship 1-0 over Russia on Thursday, practised in Olds from Dec. 18 to 22 prior to the championships in Edmonton and Calgary from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
Leah Jones, a Carstairs mother of two, said both her son Jett, 9, and daughter Haylea, 14, went to all the Swedish practices in Olds.
"My son who is nine became friends with one of the Swedish players who ended up being the high scorer of the tournament 脰 Max Friberg,卯 Jones said.
During one of the practices, Friberg gave her son goaltender Johan Gustafson's stick, which Gustafson had broken. Friberg also gave him a stick that he signed, as well as a plastic goalie mask signed by all the Swedish players.
One of the team's officials also sat with Jett during one of the practices and talked with him for about half an hour about hockey.
During a tournament game between Sweden and Finland, with Sweden trailing 2-0, Jones said Jett was pacing, worried that the team would lose the game.
"He couldn't even watch. He was so apprehensive they were going to lose that he was pacing like a father waiting for his wife to deliver a child,卯 she said.
In addition, Jones's daughter Haylea, who regularly sings the national anthem at Olds Grizzlys games, sang the Swedish national anthem for the team's final practice before they departed to Edmonton. The plan was to sing the anthem prior to the game between Sweden and Denmark, but she couldn't learn the Danish one in time, and international rules stipulate that one singer must sing both anthems.
"When my daughter was learning the national anthem, we were trying to get somebody who spoke Swedish to make sure she had the pronunciation correct, and there just happened to be a young lady from Sweden working at a farm south of Carstairs and we happened to meet her (just before) she was going home. She spent about an hour and a half with my daughter to make sure the pronunciation was right,卯 Jones said.
"As a final send-off, (the team) had her sing it live to the group. She figures that's the highlight of her life. She's never experienced anything like that because of the compliments and the way they cheered,卯 Jones said.
Jones said she was impressed with how excited Jett, especially, was during his time around the team.
"All he could talk about was this 毛Yellow Laces' 脰 and then we found out the boy's name was Max Friberg, and he ended up having a great tournament. I was impressed that my kids felt that strongly about the team and how respectful they were to my kids,卯 she said.
"I was impressed that my kids felt that strongly to the team and how respectful they were to my kids."Leah Jones, Carstairs woman whose children spent time with Team Sweden in Olds
