Joel Lundqvist will retire after this season, but now the question is and he leaves top ice hockey with a suspension. Lundqvist is banned for three games after a head tackle and misses the final stage of Frölunda’s semi-final series.
It was in the third period of the fifth SHL semi-final match between Frölunda and Växjö that Joel Lundqvist tackled Robert Rosén in the head.
Lundqvist received a match penalty for the tackle and Frölunda’s pursuit of an equalizer came to nothing. Växjö won 3–2 and took the lead 3–2 in matches.
The day after the match, the disciplinary board ruled that Lundqvist is suspended for three matches and is thus only available to play in the second final match if Frölunda manages to beat Växjö.
As the 41-year-old Frölunda icon will retire after this season, he may have already played his last game.
– In this situation, you want to play with everything at stake. It’s tough, says Lundqvist to Sportbladet.
Lundqvist has had time to reflect on the tackle and admits that he did not read the situation correctly.
– It was unfortunate circumstances. Then it gets heavy. Of course I won’t put myself or him in such a situation. It is clear that I have responsibilities as a player. It’s hard when things turn out the way they do, he says.
Joel Lundqvist received a match penalty in the fifth semi-final.
Bild: STELLA Pictures/Tommy Holl
ice hockey, Joel Lundqvist
“Wants to energize the team”
Joel Lundqvist says that this is the heaviest expulsion he has received in his career and according to Sportbladet he was noticeably taken during the interview and had to break a couple of times when the emotions took over.
– When I got into the car this morning, it was just my head. I want to give the team energy and that it is power forward that counts, he says.
Frölunda will now try to reverse a deficit in games without their team captain on the ice. The team must first win the sixth game played on Monday and then also a seventh semi-final.
Lundqvist will try to push the team from his own edge and is keeping his fingers crossed that his career does not come to an abrupt end.
– We get to strengthen things that have been good and create courage in the gang and believe in what we do. I think we have shown that we can press them and also beat them. We want to win the game tomorrow and take it to game seven and there anything can happen. We absolutely have a chance to go further, he says.
