It’s been a busy few days for Samuel Fagemo. Two days after winning a bronze medal with Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic, the 19-year-old winger was back on the ice for the Frölunda Indians in the first game of their Champions Hockey League Semi-Final against Luleå Hockey.
“Not our best game so I’m disappointed,” Fagemo said following the 3-2 loss on home ice. “It was a tight game. Luleå created chances and so did we. A lot of power plays and we need to score on our chances. Hopefully, we will do that next game. But, yeah, this is hockey.”
Fagemo played 11:54 in the game and had one assist, three shots on goal and one blocked shot. Not too bad for someone who many figured would sit out following his busy tournament where he played seven games in 11 days. But there was no doubt in the youngster’s mind he was going to play.
“It’s nice to be back and play a game again with Frölunda, so I’m not tired or anything. I was and still am ready to play,” he insisted.
Fagemo, the Los Angeles Kings' second-round pick in 2018, excelled at the World Juniors. He led the tournament with eight goals and 13 points and was named to the tournament All-Star Team. However, after winning their first five games, the Swedes lost in overtime to Russia in the semi-finals before winning the bronze-medal game against Finland.
“Of course really nice – it’s better to win a bronze medal than be the fourth team. So it is really positive, especially when we lost hard in the semis,” Fagemo reasoned. “I think we came back good as a team in the bronze game and managed to win, so of course it is really fun.”
On his personal play, Fagemo said, “Of course it is really nice for the confidence. I had a great tournament and a great role in the tournament as well.”
Turning his attention back to the CHL Semi-Finals, Fagemo knows that Frölunda has become known for coming back in return games over the years, so he insists that nobody is panicking. “We need to forget this game and focus on the next one and then we go from there.”