I read a great story in the paper this morning, about a Guldsmedshyttan hockey team that was getting ready to put the finishing touch on their Cinderella story in Sweden’s under-16 national championship tournament.

The team hails from a 3000-people strong village of Bergslagen and had beat big Swedish clubs, such as Djurgården, Linköping, and Leksand, on their way to the Final Four, against all odds.

At the beginning of the season, the team was scrambling to get a full team on the ice, finally finding the needed players in towns that were close to a 100 kilometers away. The parents created a car pool to get the kids to practices, and for away games, the club bought a bus.

“We bought it to save money and time. What a great investment that was,” says Henric Eklöw, team manager, and one-time coach, who’s seen the boys’ journey from the first day of hockey school years ago.

No matter how the team does in the final tournament, they all know the team will split up after the season with several of the players moving out of Bergslagen to go to hockey high schools, and to play for bigger clubs.

“We can only take the players so far,” Eklöw told Dagens Nyheter.

“But I’ve promised the guys that I will drive around and watch them play in their new clubs,” he adds.

Right now, the team is still together, and they’re going for gold. On home ice, no less, as the Swedish federation decided to let GSK host the final tournament, guaranteeing that the teenagers would get to play in front of about 1000 people.

“Our opponents aren’t used to playing in front of this many people. And for us, their support means a lot,” says Oscar Haaraoja Swärd, who led the team in goal scoring in the preliminary rounds, with seven in six games.

He’s already made up his mind to move to Leksand, and to go the hockey high school there. He already has an apartment in Leksand.

But that’s next year. Not now. Next year.
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Edit: They didn’t win gold. They finished 4th.