A Tale of Two Magnuses: Svenssons are Made for Hockey

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics coming up, I thought it might be interesting to re-visit a past Olympics that had a very interesting story line.

The year was 1994 and it was the XVII Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

Interesting tidbits:

Corey Hirsch was Canada’s gold medal hope in net.

Tommy Salo was a young buck tending the twine for Sweden.

Petr Nedved was playing for Team Canada.

Greg Johnson was a top Canadian player.

Peter Forsberg was still “on his way” to the Nordiques.

Magnus Svensson was playing for the Swedes.

Hold on a sec, did I just say Magnus Svensson?

Yep, that’s Magnus Svensson shooting right before Nedved. Last Swedish shooter before Forsberg pulled a Kenta Nilsson move that sent Hirsch flying. Right before Kariya gets stoned by Salo.

As far as I know, he bears no relation to Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson and Gunnar Svensson (or is there?) but it seems that the name has a history of success with Swedish international teams.

The elder Svensson spent 46 games in the NHL for the Florida Panthers (ew) but played most of his career in the SEL.

And Swedes are already excited about Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson as if he is the next coming of…who knows. Peter Forsberg or something.

I can’t wait to see him in an Oiler uniform.

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