In a highly unusual medal ceremony, Lias Andersson, captain of Sweden’s team in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2018 World Junior Championship, took the silver medal he was awarded in the final game of the championship and threw it over the glass into the crowd.
The final game on Friday, Jan. 5. was played in Buffalo, New York.
Sweden competed against Canada to determine the gold and silver medal winners.
Sweden and Canada fought hard and played well, but Canada’s goaltender, Carter Hart, turned in a phenomenal performance making 35 saves in Canada’s 3–1 victory over Sweden.
Andersson, 19, showed obvious disappointment at not being able to lead his team to victory, but the lucky fan who caught his silver medal was thrilled.
That fan was wearing a USA team jersey when he caught the medal but before he draped it around his neck, he pulled of that jersey to reveal another—a team USA shirt.
But the fan wasn’t done. He peeled off the second USA jersey and revealed that underneath it all he was wearing the colors of Sweden.
His third jersey was a replica of Swedish national team uniform, yellow with blue crowns.
“There was one guy in the stands who wanted it more than me,” Andersson later said on the IIHS Juniors Tournament site. “So I decided to give it to him. He deserved it.”
Earlier that day, the U.S. team had defeated the Czech squad 9–3 to take the bronze.
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