I wasn't offended at all. It's just not the way coaches tend to choose their words...they will stay neutral and avoid the truth if it may offend the coach sitting next to them, it's just respect.
If you say that and then lose elsewhere it just looks bad on you. I think your perceiving us to have taken much more offense to it then we actually did...it's the etiquette I thought was questionable...but it's the etiquette that Sweden continues to show at these tournaments and it never works...so we kind of laughed at it.
And if you beat us 4-0 next year at this tournament and your coach says "well I think this makes us the favourite"...I'll question his etiquette and words again and I will laugh at him if they fail.
When your in front of the camera, stay neutral, stay humble...if not your creating headlines.
Which is what they want to do.
You have to understand (not agree) that the Swedes have been the quiet, nice guys for years. Someone punches you, you skate away, etc. This is not only in icehockey, but in the society as a whole.
These days, kids are going through life with a swagger, detesting the "old" Swedish way of "Lagom" (not too much and not too little). The hockey teams as of late are a procuct of this (10 years ago, the Swedish media and teams were busier talking about who they were hoping were going to beat who, so Sweden wouldn't have to play one or the other...blah...bla... and more blah.
Putting it to you this way, winning gold is not enough, it seems. Winning Gold against Canada, in Canada, with a pissed off crowd, refs against you, and with the rest of the world all dressed in Red for the evening.... that is the ultimate goal (gold) these days.
I expect that this kind of posturing will go away in a few years (the pendelum will center), but for now, it is what it is.
I give up. 
