A devastated Team Sweden captain chucked his silver medal into the crowd after losing to Team Canada in the world junior hockey championship final on Friday.
Lias Andersson, removed his medal from around his neck almost as soon as it was received, skated to the boards and tossed it into the stands.
Lias Andersson gets his silver medal presented to him. Andersson takes it off and throws it into the stands! Emotions hitting the brink! pic.twitter.com/v8tmoqJDxa
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) January 6, 2018
A shocked TSN commentator responded with, "I know he's disappointed...that's not right."
The fan who caught the medal was wearing a Rochester Americans jersey, but quickly switched to a fan of Team Sweden, by revealing a second jersey underneath. Fans quickly gathered to take photos.
The guy who caught the silver medal was wearing 3 jerseys 😂 pic.twitter.com/JcfbEQ8PrR
— Patrick Scebba (@scebbs) January 6, 2018
The medal was eventually returned by a Swedish official, but Andersson still didn't want it.
Andersson had six goals and an assist at the tournament. Sweden has had a long history of placing second in the past several tournaments.
During a press conference after the game, Andersson told reporters, "There was one guy in the stands who wanted it more than me so I decided to give it to him because he deserved it."
Later that night, Andersson took to twitter to say, "Tack Sverige," which means thank you, Sweden.
Tack Sverige 🙏
— Lias Andersson (@liasandersson) January 6, 2018
But many hockey fans were not impressed with Andersson's actions and thought it showed poor taste to appear ungrateful for placing second.
"We want more personality in hockey. Players are too dull."
— Ian Fleming (@imfleming16) January 6, 2018
:Lias Andersson tosses silver medal away:
"NOT THAT KIND OF PERSONALITY"
However, some people came to his defence, understanding that given Sweden's history of losses, he was incredibly disappointed with the final game.
This is probably an unpopular opinion but I don’t have a problem with what Lias Andersson did. The guy wants to win. Given Sweden’s history, I’d be frustrated too. He’s still pretty upset. pic.twitter.com/KVvxWAtjFw
— Sunaya Sapurji (@sunayas) January 6, 2018
The world junior final is the highest level of hockey many of these players will see.
But Andersson's career might not end just yet. He was a first-round pick of the New York Rangers and seventh overall in the 2017 NHL draft.
If he makes it, he will be the third family member to play in the NHL.
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