As of Thursday afternoon, local forecasters were projecting temperatures in the low 40s Fahrenheit for puck drop Sunday. Certainly not beach weather. But very much hockey weather.
All the while, Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam will be watching. Hedman, after all, is a huge cog for the Swedes entering the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
“It means so much to him,” Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, one of Hedman’s closest friends, said recently. “A lot of us didn’t understand why he was passed over for the 2014 Olympic team in Sochi.
“He’s been waiting a long time for this.”
Sweden’s first game is against host Italy on Feb. 11.
“I get goose bumps just thinking about it,” Hedman said. “It’s going to be my first and my last Olympics. So, you know, if I’m there when I’m 40, Sweden has a problem.”
He laughed.
“But seriously, it’s a once in a lifetime type of deal. And pretty much the only thing I’m missing in my career is playing in an Olympics. And now I get to do that.
“I’m just going to enjoy the process and, at the same time, go there and have no regrets coming back. Just give it my all and make the people of Sweden proud.”
Much like Team Sweden did when they won gold at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, about two hours from Milan. It is generally considered the greatest moment in Swedish hockey history.
Can this edition of the Tre Kroners repeat that magical moment 20 years later?
“I mean, we’re obviously going in there with the mindset to obviously try and win every single game,” Hedman said. “You know, gold or bust, I don’t know about that. All nations want to win gold. Just take it game by game and don’t look too far ahead.
“Start with Italy, and go from there.”