Peter Forsberg Already Making Excuses For Canada Win?

TSN reported today on about a quote from former NHL and Team Sweden Star Peter Forsberg about the officials’ assignments for the gold medal game between Sweden and Canada.  Three of the four officials assigned to the Gold Medal game are Canadian.

You can read his colorful quotes in the article at TSN.ca.

PHOTO CREDIT: USA Today Sports

For me, it seems like he knows Sweden can’t compete if Canada is as relentless as it was in the semi-final, and is already making excuses for an inevitable Sweden loss.

Has Forsberg seen European officiating? It is brutal and inconsistent no matter who is playing.  In the game that pits the best on the best, they deserve the best officiating available.  With 49 of the 50 players on the two rosters being NHLers, (Jimmie Ericsson being the lone exception), they should have NHL referees.  That leaves Canadians and Americans. One of the American referees is Tim Peel, well known to Ottawa fans as not being exactly up to par in the NHL let alone internationally.

As Erik Karlsson said in the TSN article, neither the Candian or the Swedish players can control the referees.

By the way, Sweden has had more penalties assessed in the Olympics than any other team, whether they had Canadian referees or not.

The fact Forsberg has called into question the integrity of people who make their living doing what they do is the joke. If it is mind games in an effort to make the officials think twice before making a call, then that is a shame as well.