Finland's national team rages against Swedish ice hockey association: "Can't be trusted"

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association is currently in conflict with the players in Damkronorna, and is currently negotiating a new landslas agreement.

Therefore, the national team did not appear in a tournament in Finland last month, and therefore the union canceled the tournament scheduled to be played in Luleå in November.

The other teams that would have played the Luleå tournament were Finland, the USA and Canada - thus the three medalists from the World Cup last season.

And one who is really disappointed with the Swedish Confederation's decision to cancel the tournament is Finland's Confederate captain Pasi Mustonen.

- They have how many weeks to negotiate with each other! Why should you go out so many weeks in advance and cancel the tournament? There is no need to go out with it so early, he tells SVT Sport.

When the Swedish Hockey Association announced two weeks ago that they decided to cancel the tournament, they did so on the grounds that the US, Canada and Finland needed guarantees for the tournament to be played. But Pasi Mustonen rather thinks that it is about the Swedish ice hockey association saw a good opportunity to save money.

- There is no written agreement. The four-tournament tournaments have been played for any length of time, and there is an oral agreement for the organizer to bear the costs of the other three teams. It is an agreement that has worked just fine. Now you have an opportunity to save money, and what do you do? Well, you book the tournament, he says, and continues:

- You can do it without incurring costs because there is no written information. This is about trust, and now it has failed. And that's why I say: They will not come back to this tournament if I decide!

- Its over! How the hell should we be able to plan international national team activities if there is a party that does not keep its promise? This is the second time now. Once is once, but twice is twice.

Mustonen thus believes that Sweden can forget about playing four-nation tournaments with the world's best team in the future.

- Now it's run for Sweden! They are forever away from the four-nation tournaments. They know it themselves, it is a matter of course. They cannot be trusted internationally. This is the second tournament in a row. It looks very dark for them. I can safely say that. It is not possible to handle international issues as they do now in Sweden, he says, and continues:

- They have burned the torment. It does not exist.

What impact will this have on you in Finland?

- It affects, of course. It is an incredibly important tournament for us before the World Cup. We have a generation shift and need to bring in five to six new young players, who now may not get the opportunity to play against the Americans, because the Swedish Ice Hockey Association wants to save money.

- It is completely disastrous. It's naughty. So I am incredibly disappointed myself. And I am disappointed for the sake of the players. We'll see if we can solve it in any way.

The Finnish Hockey Association is now investigating the possibilities of getting in some other matches instead.