"They Shamed Their Country"
- Front page headline in Sweden, Feb. 21, 2002. The accompanying article included photos of every player on the Olympic hockey team, identified by name and NHL salary.
A great upset requires more than an unlikely winner and a shocked loser.
The truly historic upset needs a big stage and a memorable defining moment.
It has to tell a story that "no scriptwriter would ever dare," as broadcaster Al Michaels once said.
If it was any other tournament, if the game hadn't been so close, if there hadn't been so much at stake, Belarus beating Sweden might have been nothing more than a mild surprise.
Just a bad day at the office for the Swedes. These things happen.
But the stage was the 2002 Winter Olympics. And the defining moment was the ugliest of winning goals.
The Swedes looked to be the class of the field at Salt Lake City, and their strong preliminary round earned them a favorable draw in the quarterfinals.
The path through the medal round looked promising; the gold medal was in view.
Then came Belarus.
What an unforgettable afternoon it turned out to be. You could almost feel the hockey world hold its breath as that fateful puck bounced high off the head of goaltender Tommy Salo.
"It was luck. It was like the [Australian] short-track skater. Everybody fell down and he got first. Basically the same thing happened here."
- Ruslan Salei, the only NHL player on the Belarus team, on their victory over Sweden.
History isn't fair. Everyone remembers Salo looking foolish in 2002. Not nearly as many recall him leading Sweden to Olympic gold in 1994.
And we should acknowledge that several other members of the 2002 Swedish team stuck around to claim their redemption four years later.
But for an entire generation of hockey fans, the phrase "Sweden-Belarus-Tommy-Salo" will always be the very definition of stunning upset.
See also:
Team of the Decade
Olympic Hockey History
Olympic Hockey History in Photos
(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)
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