On Sunday, the Junior Crowns travel to Canada for this year's JVM, but with four days left until departure, there is a coaching crisis in the Swedish team.
National team captain Tomas Montén, assistant national team captain Anders Lundberg, goalkeeping coach Nizze Landén and video coach Adam Almqvist have all tested positive for covid-19 and are not allowed to join JVM.
The Swedish Ice Hockey Association has previously said that they hope that Montén will be able to join afterwards, but now the association's general secretary, Johan Stark, tells SVT Sport that Montén has been excluded.
Working on a solution for Eriksén
The union is working to get Montén's replacement, Anders Eriksén, to travel with the team on Sunday, but the authorities in the province of Alberta have not yet given in to it.
The reason is that Eriksén has not gone through all the testing required to enter the country due to the prevailing pandemic.
Therefore, the association has now started looking for other alternatives, including coaches in North America.
- We have to, we have to look broadly, says Johan Stark.
Do you have the names of coaches you have contacted?
- No, it's on Olof Östblom's table.
SVT Sport has previously reported that the Canadian Todd Woodcroft is a possible replacement, but the Swedish Ice Hockey Association has not confirmed this.
"Do not know if the bubble in Sundsvall is contaminated"
According to Stark, the difficulty is finding a new coach who has gone through all the testing required.
Due to the pandemic, everyone, players and leaders, must have submitted three negative PCR tests before departure.
Tomorrow, the Swedish players and leaders, who are in Sundsvall, will carry out the third PCR test.
Only on Friday will the team find out if everyone has negative test results.
- Our challenge now is that we do not yet know if the bubble in Sundsvall is contaminated, says Stark.
Strong does not want to speculate on what happens if a player tests positive.
- No, I do not want to think about that.