Norway’s national ice hockey team avoided a meltdown at the world championships in Switzerland over the weekend, and ended up with the bronze medal after beating mighty Canada. They celebrated with thousands of Norwegian football fans back in Oslo on Monday, who’d gathered for a World Cup warm-up match against Sweden that Norway also won.
It all led to a grand “welcome home” party for the hockey heroes and a great send-off on Tuesday for the Norwegian national football team. The latter has since landed in the USA and started a two-week training session before their first match against Iraq on June 17. Norway will then face off against Senegal on June 23 and France on June 26.
It was Norway’s new hockey heroes who grabbed half-time attention in Oslo on Monday, though, as sports fans cheered for the country’s first medal at the hockey world championships in 90 years. When Norway beat Sweden as well at the exhibition match, ambitions rose for the World Cup. “Norway is winning in many arenas now,” noted sports commentator Reidar Sollie in newspaper Dagsavisen.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
