text: what do the three crowns on the team swedens hockey jersey represent?   the tre kronor (three crowns) is the national emblem of sweden. here's what wikipedia has to say:  three crowns, or tre kronor, is a national emblem of sweden. nominally they are three coronets ordered two above one which is present in the coat of arms of the realm of sweden. the history of this symbol isn't entirely clear. most historians believe it was brought from germany to sweden by albrekt of mecklenburg in the late fourteenth century. the symbolism is in this theory believed to be a representation of the three wise men, also known as the three kings, that came to visit jesus at the epiphany. another theory is that the three crowns simply represented the three old kingdoms that joined to later form sweden, three crowns one kingdom. however, that theory is less widely accepted. another theory is that the three crowns was leftovers after yet another failed attempt at creating a scandinavian union and that the crowns represent the royal families of sweden, denmark and norway. swedes generally don't know any of these theories and what the symbol is believed to represent, and this is mostly a subject discussed among historians.  the crowns sat on top of the old royal palace in stockholm, which was thence called tre kronor, and which burned down in 1697. later, they were reinstated on top of the tower of stockholm's city hall, and (to some controversy) have come to symbolize stockholm as well as sweden as a whole.  the emblem is often used as a symbol of authority by the swedish government, but other less formal examples exist such as the swedish national men's ice hockey team, which wears three crowns on their shirts and thence are called "three crowns".