Johansson scores women's hockey Olympic tournament-leading 4th goal in Sweden's 4-0 win over France

MILAN (AP) — At 19, Hilda Svensson wasn’t born the last time Sweden’s women’s hockey team medaled at the Olympics.

The Ohio State freshman and a collection of young and brashly confident teammates are eager to rectify what’s been a 20-year drought at the Milan Cortina Games.

“I think we have a good chance,” Svensson said after setting up two goals in a 4-0 win over France on Sunday.

“I think we have one of the best teams now since then. And we have a really good energy,” she added. “Everyone on this team wants to take that medal. And I think everyone’s going to work very hard for that.”

One step at a time.

Improving to 3-0, Sweden earned a berth in the quarterfinal round and is one win — or a loss by Japan (1-1) — from clinching Group B.

The next challenge is more daunting, with Sweden having to win two more games to medal in a tournament in which the U.S. entered as favorites, followed by defending Olympic champion Canada, Finland and Czechia.

Difficult as the road ahead appears, Svensson’s outlook reflects a transformational shift in the program’s trajectory. The core of Sweden’s roster is made up of players who won silver at the 2018 U-18 championships.

“I really like how they’re not afraid to lose,” 31-year-old captain Anna Kjellbin said of the youngsters. “They just see possibilities to win all the time. And I think that’s one of the strengths of that generation.”

Sweden’s roster features eight players 22 and younger, with seven currently competing at U.S. colleges. They include Svensson, who is tied for seventh in the nation with 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) in 26 games.

Against France, Minnesota-Duluth senior forward Thea Johansson scored her Olympic tournament-leading fourth goal. Also scoring were Sara Hjalmarsson, Hanna Thuvik and Lisa Johansson. Emma Soderberg stopped 14 shots for her first Olympic shutout in six games.

France dropped to 0-3 in its Olympic debut, and is in jeopardy of not qualifying for the quarterfinals. Only the top three of five Group B nations advance. Alice Philbert had 45 saves in a game the Swedes outshot France 49-14.

Sweden has so far played to its high expectations by outscoring opponents by a combined margin of 14-1. The team has finished no better than seventh at the past two Olympics after finishing fourth at the 2014 Sochi Games.

The drop-off has been dramatic for the only nation other than Canada and the U.S. to win an Olympic silver medal. The Swedes did so at the 2006 Turin Games by upsetting the Americans in the semifinals. Sweden also won bronze in 2002.

“The time for us is now,” coach Ulf Lundberg declared before the tournament opened. He based that on what he called a “we don’t care” attitude his players have adopted.

“You have those youngsters coming in and they’re not afraid of anything. I love it," Lundberg said. “We want to be more like the Canadians and the Americans that feel that we are best, because then you have the grace and the swag."

Lundberg has been part of the transformation. He took over the women’s team after playing a role in developing several Swedish men’s stars, including Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft.

Encouraged as he is, Lundberg is not looking beyond Sweden closing its preliminary round schedule against Japan on Tuesday.

“We’re not looking or listening to media talking about maybe semifinal, maybe medal, maybe 2006 again,” Lundberg said. “Slow down. Here and now.”

Tereza Pistekova and Natalie Mlynkova scored, Klara Peslarova stopped 25 shots and Czechia defeated Finland 2-0 in what could serve as a preview of the tournament's bronze-medal matchup.

Anni Kiesala stopped 22 shots for Finland, which has been blanked twice in two outings following a 5-0 loss to the Americans a day earlier. Czechia is 1-2.

It was the nations' first meeting in Olympic play, though they've developed a fierce rivalry at the world championships. The teams have won two bronze medals apiece over the past four world tournaments, with Finland winning the past two — both decided after regulation.

AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Czechia's Natalie Mlynkova, left, celebrates with Czechia's Katerina Mrazova after scoring her sides second goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between Czechia vs Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Sweden's Lisa Johansson, right, celebrates after scoring her side's fourth goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between France and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, Pool)

Sweden's Head Coach Ulf Lundberg gestures during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between France and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

France's Jade Barbirati, left, challenges Sweden's Hilda Svensson during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between the France and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

France's Estelle Duvin, right, fights with Sweden's Anna Kjellbin during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between France and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Sweden's Thea Johansson, left, celebrates after scoring her side's opening goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between the France and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

NEW YORK (AP) — This is not the run up to the midterm elections that Republicans wanted.

A year and a half after winning the White House by promising to lower costs and end wars, Donald Trump is a wartime president overseeing surging energy costs and an escalating overseas conflict that many in his own party do not like.

He offered little clarity to a nation eager for answers this week during a prime-time address from the White House, his first since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago, simultaneously suggesting that the war was ending and expanding.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.”

Trump's comments come roughly six months before voters across the nation begin to cast ballots in elections that will decide control of Congress and key governorships for Trump’s final two years in office. For now, Republicans, who control all branches of government in Washington, are bracing for a painful political backlash.

“You’re looking at an ugly November,” warned veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. “At a point in time when we need every break possible to hold the House and Senate, our edge is being chipped away.”

It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the political landscape has shifted.

At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.

Republicans are also struggling to coalesce around a clear midterm message on Iran.

The Republican National Committee has largely avoided the war in talking points issued to surrogates over the last month. The leaders of the party's campaign committees responsible for the House and Senate declined interview requests. Many vulnerable Republican candidates sidestep the issue, unwilling to defend or challenge Trump publicly.

The president remains deeply popular with Republican voters, and he has vocal supporters like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

“That was the best speech I could’ve hoped for,” he wrote on social media after Trump's address on Wednesday evening. Graham said Trump “gave the American people a clear and coherent pathway forward.”

Trump made little effort to sell the conflict to Americans before the initial attack. Five weeks later, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds more injured. Thousands more troops have converged on the region, and the Pentagon requested $200 billion in new funding.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for a fifth of the world’s oil, remains closed. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. was $4.08 on Thursday, according to AAA, almost a full dollar higher than on President Joe Biden's last day in office.

On Wednesday, Trump insisted that gas prices would fall quickly once the war concluded but offered no solution for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he invited skeptical U.S. allies to do it themselves.

He insisted that the war would be worth it.

“This is a true investment in your grandchildren and your grandchildren’s future,” Trump said. “When it’s all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was once among Trump's most vocal allies in Congress, lashed out against his Iran policy.

“I wanted so much for President Trump to put America First. That’s what I believed he would do. All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR,” she wrote on social media. “Nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans.”

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the U.S. military action in Iran has “gone too far,” according to AP-NORC polling from March. Roughly a third approve of how he’s handling Iran overall.

The possibility of sending U.S. forces into Iran also appears politically unpalatable.

About 6 in 10 adults are “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed to deploying U.S. troops on the ground to fight Iran. That includes about half of Republicans. Only about 1 in 10 favor deploying troops.

At the same time, Trump’s approval ratings have remained consistently weak. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of how he’s handling the presidency, roughly in line with how it’s been throughout his second term.

Republican strategist Ari Fleischer, a senior aide in former President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledged that Trump has not received the polling bump in this war that Bush got after invading Iraq.

Bush, of course, worked to build public backing for the Iraq War before going in. Immediately after the 2003 invasion, Bush's popularity soared, as did the stock market.

Public sentiment and the economy soured only after the conflict stretched on. It ultimately spanned more than eight years, spawning a generation of anti-war Republicans — and sowing the seeds of Trump's “America First” foreign policy.

“My hope is that the Trump experience is the exact opposite of the Bush experience,” Fleischer said.

He said Trump must win the war decisively and quickly to avoid a further backlash, saying there could be a “very significant political upside if things end well, oil comes down and markets rally.”

Fleischer added that Trump's actions will matter much more than his words.

“Ultimately, he is not going to get judged on his persuasion or his explanations or his assertions, he’s going to get judged on results,” he said.

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

In this image made with a long exposure, President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)