Photo credit: Amber Searls – Imagn Images.
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson has opened up about his experience at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, helping Sweden reach the quarterfinals.
Despite going into the tournament as one of the favourites to win the gold medal, Sweden has a relatively subpar 2026 Winter Olympics, finishing third in their group behind Slovakia and Finland, which set them up with a date with Latvia in the qualification playoff round, before meeting the United States in the quarterfinals, where they lost 2-1 in overtime.
Through five games in Milan, Pettersson registered a pair of goals, both of which came in their final game of the preliminary round against Slovakia, but overall, Sweden’s head coach Sam Hallam was quite pleased with what he saw.
Note: the following has been translated from Swedish
“I loved his speed from the midfield when he scored his first goal. It was a nice pass from Forsberg. But from the start he plays with good presence, he does the right things, tackles and plays the right way tactically. It means a lot to him to add two goals to that today. All these players need goals like that to get a better feeling.” Hallam said following Saturday’s win over Slovakia.” Hallam said.
Vancouver Canucks’ Elias Pettersson opens up about experience at 2026 Winter Olympics
The Vancouver Canucks have slowly been getting their 2026 Winter Olympians back on the ice in the Lower Mainland, with Elias Pettersson returning to practice at UBC on Saturday morning.
After practice, Pettersson met with reporters where he shared how he felt his experience at the Winter Olympics went and how he can carry that forward for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.
“Cool experience to represent Sweden at the Winter Olympics.” Pettersson said.
He later added, “Yeah we gave it our all. I think the game against the US it could’ve gone either way, we tied it late, but that’s how it goes sometimes. One game.”
While it might not have been a great tournament from Elias Pettersson individually, hopefully he’ll be able to take some lessons from his time in Milan and apply them in Vancouver for the rest of the season, as the Canucks would love to see him finish the year strong and prove to everyone that he can be the number one center for this club for many years to come.
Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
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Elias Pettersson opens up about his experience at the Olympics and what’s next for him
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