Women’s World Championship 2017: Team Sweden

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty ImagesToday, I took a look at the Swedish women’s team for this year’s IIFH Women’s World Championship.

The team arrived in Ann Arbor, Michigan last week and got to work:

Before we look at this year’s team, let’s look at their history in the tournament. You know that Sweden is one of the powerhouse hockey countries, but the history of women’s hockey in Sweden is one of a struggle not just to close the gap on Canada and the USA, but to keep pace with Finland and, increasingly, Russia.

In 1990 when this tournament began, Sweden came fourth behind Finland. In 2005, they won their first bronze medal, and it looked like they were the team to challenge Finland as the…