Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson scored a goal and added two assists during the Swedes’ World Junior Championship-opening win over Russia on Sunday, and he spoke with Expressen’s Adam Johansson after the game. Here’s a rough translation of their conversation:
Explains: “They should get big praise”
A goal-scorer in his first WJC game
Then the great talent Simon Edvinsson chose to dedicate his goal to all the Swedish fans in Red Deer.
“They should be highly-praised for being here.”
Sweden started its WJC in the best possible way. On the second day of Christmas, the night of December 27th, Swedish time, the group favorite, Russia, was defeated 6-3.
“I thought we played well and played for each other. We had a good mindset throughout the game. It was a strong defensive game on our part,” says Simon Edvinsson.
The defensive general on ice, who was born in 2003 and is thus a year younger than most of the players in the tournament, was one of Sweden’s giants in the victory.
He admits that there were some premiere nerves before the game in his body.
“I was nervous, actually. I had been looking forward to playing, the whole team was charged. We went together as a group, and it was extremely fun to play.”
“Then it was the first game on a small rink. It’s always a change but it felt good.”
Thanked the Swedish fans
Edvinsson also became one of Sweden’s goal-scorers when, shorthanded, he scored the 2-0 goal between Yaroslav Askarov’s legs.
Immediately after the goal, he pointed up to the stands.
It turned out that he wanted to thank all the Swedish supporters who were in the arena in Red Deer.
“It was to those who came here from Sweden. I think they should be praised a lot for coming here and watching us during the pandemic,” says Edvinsson, who also said that he had no family members of friends in the stands during the premiere.
