Originally published in Eishockey News in 2008 By Lucas Aykroyd Early in the NHL careers of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the twin Swedish forwards were derisively dubbed the “Sedin sisters.” Despite their obvious finesse skills and chemistry together, they lacked upper body strength and footspeed. And despite the similarity between their surname and that of […]

The Good: Canada Golden Again at World Juniors Congratulations to Team Canada for winning its fourth consecutive gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic. A couple of days ago, I questioned whether Canada’s mental focus was where it needed to be heading into a potential final with the Russians. Of […]

Life got a lot better for Detroit Red Wings fans with last week’s announcement that Nicklas Lidstrom had signed a two-year, $14.9-million contract extension. But the fact that Lidstrom will still be playing hockey in 2010 is also crazy good news for supporters of the Swedish Olympic team. Count on him being there in Vancouver. […]

If you’re looking for someone who knows as much about, say, Frolunda defenseman Ronnie Sundin as Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Mats Sundin, Peter Westermark would be a great bet. The 32-year-old native of Skelleftea, Sweden blogs for HockeySverige.se, and is a longtime contributor to outlets such as McKeen’s Hockey, Hockey’s Future, and IHWC.NET, the official […]

Here are seven hockey stories from both mainstream sites and blogs that made an impression on me this month. 1. The Globe and Mail: “Speed kills”: Has the NHL gotten too fast for its own good? Eric Duhatschek investigates. Interesting to see Al MacInnis admit that sometimes he’s preferred watching international women’s hockey due to […]

Marcus Nilson has one goal as a hockey player, and that’s winning the Stanley Cup. The downside is that the gritty Calgary Flames winger also only has one goal in 19 games this season. “It’s been tough so far,” Nilson told HockeyAdventure.com with a wry chuckle. “A lot of nights you’re mostly penalty-killing and not […]

The Russians used to dominate the hockey world, in part, because they were physically fitter than their opponents. Today, almost everyone’s in shape. The great dividing line, then, is often mental conditioning. And that’s an area where one Swedish captain of a Canadian NHL team could learn from another. Check out this recent excerpt from […]

Never let a little thing like a broken nose stop you. That’s the philosophy Petr Sykora will take into Pittsburgh’s Friday-night opener at Carolina. After suffering the injury in a collision with teammate Brooks Orpik in exhibition play in Montreal, the 30-year-old Czech winger will wear a full face shield for protection. Although Sykora was […]

It wasn’t quite as big as winning double gold in Turin and Riga last year, but for Swedish hockey fans, the news I covered today in Vancouver is still something to celebrate. From IIHF.com: Sweden won the right to host the 2013 IIHF Championship at the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress today, beating out Belarus, the Czech […]

Lars Lindgren, whom the Vancouver Canucks hired as a European scout earlier this month, accomplished a lot of fine things during his playing career. The big Pitea native was a two-time Swedish League all-star defenseman and a mainstay on Vancouver’s blueline during the club’s 1982 march to the Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately, as Steve Smith […]