Peter Forsberg - International Play

International Play

Forsberg competed with Sweden's under-18 team at the 1991 European Junior Championships. He led the tournament in scoring with 17 points over 6 games as Sweden failed to defend their gold medal from the previous year. Moving on to Sweden's national under-20 team, he played in his first of two World Junior Championships in 1992. He scored 11 points in seven games as Sweden won the silver medal. Several months later, Forsberg debuted with the Swedish men's team at the 1992 World Championships. He recorded a goal and an assist over eight games, helping Sweden to a gold medal.

The following year, he made his second appearance at the 1993 World Junior Championships. Forsberg set a tournament record 24 assists and 31 points over seven games. He earned nearly a third of his points with a ten-point performance against Japan, which set a single-game tournament record. In 1994, he led the Swedes to a gold medal in the Winter Olympics, scoring the winning goal of the penalty shootout that decided the gold medal game. Forsberg's "one hand, slide in" goal, a move which he borrowed from retired Swedish ice hockey player Kent Nilsson, has become popular in today's NHL. An image of Forsberg scoring this goal was later placed on a Swedish postage stamp, making him the first hockey player to be placed on a Swedish stamp. The second player and so far only one besides Forsberg to be printed on a Swedish postage stamp is former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin. Forsberg's famous move on Canadian goaltender Corey Hirsch (who refused to allow his name to be shown on the stamp) has become so iconic in hockey that efforts to reproduce it inevitably draw references to Forsberg from hockey commentators.

Following his second year in the NHL, Forsberg competed in the 1996 World Cup. The competition marked Forsberg's first time in best-on-best international play. With five points in four games, Forsberg helped Sweden to a bronze medal.

In October 1997, it was announced that Forsberg would be playing for the Swedish national team in the Karjala Cup, though he was forced to withdraw from the team after just one practice session after experiencing continued problems with his foot. The following year, he competed in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in the first Olympic competition including NHL players. Forsberg recorded five points over four games as Sweden finished without a medal at fifth place. Several months later, competing in the 1998 World Championships, Sweden won a gold medal. Forsberg had recorded 11 points over 7 games.

In November 1999, he played for Sweden in the Karjala Cup, a tournament that included his 100th game for the Swedish national team against Russia on November 7. Nearly five years later, he made his fourth World Championships appearance in 2003. He scored nine points in eight games to help Sweden to a silver medal. The following year, he helped Sween to another silver medal at the 2004 tournament, recording an assist in two games.

Returning to best-on-best competition at the 2004 World Cup, Forsberg recorded three points in four games. Sweden finished in fifth place. Two years later, he won his second Olympic gold, helping Sweden to a championship at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. As part of a subsequent interview about the championship over five years later, Forsberg was interpreted to insinuate that Sweden lost their preliminary round game against Slovakia on purpose, so as to draw Switzerland as their quarterfinal opponent, rather than Canada or Russia. Swedish forward Henrik Sedin, who played alongside Forsberg on the 2006 team denied the notion while adding that Forsberg's comments in the interview were misconstrued. Forsberg's next appearance in international competition came at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. He was named Sweden's flag bearer for the opening ceremonies. Two years removed from NHL competition (Forsberg had been playing in the Elitserien while attempting an NHL comeback), Forsberg played a lesser role with the Swedish team and recorded an assist over four games. Sweden finished in fifth place, failing to defend their 2006 gold medal.