Bad boys welcomed back

Kristian Huselius and his pals who ended up on the front pages of the newspapers here last winter are getting the green light to come back to the Swedish National hockey team. A bit of a surprise really. The hockey association here seemed pretty quick to act and banned the players from the national team right away, before and formal police complaint was made. Perhaps they were a little hasty in fact as it turned out that the players had apparently not broken any laws. They were with a young girl in their hotel room after drinking in the hotel. Apparently there was some question of the girl being drugged, she in fact was uncertain about what happened in the hotel room later, but it did not sound pretty.

Though none of the players were charged with rape, they were banned from the team and publicly humiliated, which in Sweden is one of the worst fates you can suffer. Losing face is bad here, like in Japan.

In any case the players have apologised and now can play again for the national team next year. Huselius is a good player so he will be welcomed, but the Swedish hockey associations reputation will suffer for this reversal.