Sweden's Henrik Zetterberg (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Men's Ice Hockey Group B match Czech Republic vs Sweden at the Bolshoy Ice Cube on February 12, 2014 at the Sochi Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Hailed by several pundits as favorites for the tournament, Sweden’s men’s hockey team is looking ever less like podium contenders after captain Henrik Zetterberg joined a growing list of injured players.
A herniated disk has bothered the Detroit Red Wings star forward throughout the NHL season, but didn’t keep him from scoring in Sweden’s opening victory over the Czech Republic on Wednesday. The following day, however, Zetterberg skipped training, and on Friday it was announced that the 2006 gold medalist will miss the rest of the tournament.
Fellow Red Wing Niklas Kronwall will replace Zetterberg as captain of a team already suffering from the loss of two other key players, Henrik Sedin and Johan Franzén.
[AP]