Team USA Captain Facing Major Backlash For Poor Sportsmanship At World Juniors

The USA and Sweden have always had a healthy rivalry in international competition in hockey. This year that rivalry was taken to a whole other level. This is because there is a history between the players on each team. At the U18 level, they faced off with Sweden coming up with a huge victory.

This year it was the USA's turn at the U20 level to get their revenge in Sweden's home as the hosts of the tournament. The United States followed through on their plan for revenge with a huge 6-2 victory. In the final minutes of the game, the USA players could be seen waving goodbye and blowing kisses as the Swedish crowd.

These actions did not sit well with many fans around the world watching in the stadium and at home. Furthermore, the actions of Team USA captain Rutger McGroarty were frowned upon as well.

After winning the gold medal Team USA was of course exhilarated and thrilled that they were the winners. They did the typical team dogpile and yardsale of equipment. However, Captain Rutger McGroarty's celebration on the way to receive his medal was too much for many people.

McGroarty can be seen dancing as he looks over at the Swedish team on the opposite blue line. While McGroarty had not been shy about how much this game meant to this group and how much they disliked the Swedes many still felt this was inappropriate.

Either way Team USA are your gold medalists and I'm sure the Swedish players who get another crack at the United States next year will not forget those moments in this one.