U18: Mikael Tisell Interview

The Swedish U18 coach Mikael Tisell was a happy man when McKeen's Hockey caught up with him yesterday and understandably so – his team has just come off of 2-0 a win against Canada in ongoing U18 WJC in southern Sweden.

Tisell, who also signed a contract as an assistant coach with Malmo in the Swedish Elite League for next season the same day, really liked what he saw from his team in the game against Canada on Saturday and is confident that Sweden has what it takes to beat just not Team Canada, but anyone, in this tournament.

"In the game against Canada, we had seven minor penalties and Canada eight, yet we managed to win with an even-strength goal by Tony Lagerstrom. Lagerstrom chipped in a rebound from a shot by Thomas Larsson, after some good cycling in the offensive zone from his line", Tisell recapped the game's decisive moment.

This is the second year in a row that Tisell is coaching a Swedish team who beat Canada in the U18's and he thinks that he have found the recipe to deal with the Canadians.

"Canada is human, just as everybody else. The key is not to shy away in the physical game against them and show courage and heart in what you are doing on the ice. I'm proud that we managed to beat them at their own strengths last night", says Tisell.

"Obviously you need some good goaltending as well. Last year Mattias Modig provided it for us and now Jhonas Enroth had a great game. And as always, you need a couple of lucky bounces on your side, as it is always very tight in this competitions", he further added.

No new Nicklas Backstrom on Team Sweden

Last year, the Swedish team featured some excellent top-end talent in the U18's, such as the SEL rookie of the year Nicklas Backstrom, and the 2005 first rounder Nicklas Bergfors, who is currently making a name for himself in the AHL with the Albany River Rats. This year's edition of Team Sweden does not have that kind of elite talent up front and Tisell is aware of that fact, but remains optimistic.

"Nicklas Backstrom is such a special player and I can't honestly say that we have anyone who compares to him in terms of style or potential on this team. At least earlier this season, the feeling was that we had lost a lot a high end skill compared to last season, but this team have been progressing steadily. But we have just as good goaltending as last year and great sense of work ethic within the team. I also think that we have more skill among our defensive corps this year, as we relied a lot upon heart there last year".

"Guys like Tony Lagerstrom and Patrik Berglund are also great center types that we are building much of our game around and both of them provide a great deal of leadership skills. Neither of them will play in the SEL next season, but I imagine that they could have break out years in Allsvenskan instead", says Tisell.

Tisell is however rather reluctant to look very far in the future regarding the ongoing tournament though, but he realizes that a victory tomorrow might be all it takes for Sweden to win the group and receive a bye into the semifinals next weekend.

"That's true, and we are going to work hard to get there. As for favorites for the gold, Team USA is probably the best and most complete team in tournament, but we have beaten them before this year and we know that we can do it again", says Tisell.

"But we certainly aren't there yet and even though it is the worst cliche in the book, we'll to take it game-by-game at this point".

In any case, Sweden has already come a long way to proving that last year's bronze medal at the U18 WJC, certainly wasn't a fluke accident or just the work of stellar individual efforts from Nicklas Backstrom or Nicklas Bergfors.