At some point this season, it began to feel inevitable that Rasmus Andersson would be going to the Olympics.
That didn’t make it any less exciting for Andersson when he found out he’d be playing for Sweden in Milano-Cortina in February.
Then, he had to keep his mouth shut about it.
“I found out about 10 days ago, it’s been hard to keep it to yourself,” Andersson said. “Extremely proud and it’s definitely a dream come true to play at the Olympics for Sweden. It’s something I’ve always wanted.”
Andersson grew up on stories of his dad, Peter, representing Sweden at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France.
He can vividly remember when Sweden won gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, with Swedish legends Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg combining to set up Nicklas Lidstrom for the game-winner against Finland.
Those are the “three big ones” of Swedish hockey from his childhood, the legends he grew up idolizing.
Naturally, it means the world that he has the chance to inspire the next generation of young Swedes when he dons the national team jersey at the biggest international tournament in a decade.
“It means a lot,” Andersson said. “As a kid growing up in Sweden, that was always your dream to play for the national team. Then, eventually the NHL came but you know, just the history around it, I kind of grew up on those ‘06 clips. It means the world to me, I’m extremely excited.
“I’ve seen the game-winning goal probably a thousand times in my life. It’s something we grew up on. I was nine years old at the time, the memory never really leaves. Since that day, I’ve dreamt of playing in the Olympics one day.”
Andersson was included on the Swedish roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off last year, so might have had the inside track for a place on the Olympic team. Still,, his 2024-25 season didn’t end especially well, so there were no guarantees.
His play this season made him a no-brainer for inclusion, though.
His eight goals and 18 assists have him third among Swedish blueliners in scoring this year, behind only Rasmus Dahlin and Erik Karlsson — and both of them have a worse plus/minus than the +2 he has posted.
“The whole room is thrilled for him,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said. “When you look at one guy who has had a ridiculously good year in all aspects of his game, (it’s Andersson). I didn’t really feel there was going to be any question whether he was going to be on that roster, but I assume for the player you’re always a little uneasy because you never know until you see your name being put out there.
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“We’re really happy for him. I think he’s done an excellent job. He’s very deserving of it. We’ll be cheering for Canada and cheering for Ras, too, if that makes sense.”
BASHA BACK TO JUNIOR
Andrew Basha will be finishing the season with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL.
On Friday, the Calgary Wranglers re-assigned the 20-year-old winger to his junior team.
Selected in the second round, 41st overall, of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Flames, Basha missed most of last year with an ankle injury that required surgery.
This season, his first in the pros, the Calgary native had scored once and added four assists in 27 games in the AHL.