Ishockey i Sverige (Hockey in Sweden)

We are just past the half way point of the hockey season here in Sunne and I must say hockey in Sweden has been quite enjoyable for all of us. The boys have been able to practice and/or play with more than one team if they want. Hockey is a little more relaxed here with regard to age placement and fund raising requirements. Hockey has essentially been free; no registration fees, no try out fees, no rep fees. The Swedish government pays the organization for each player who particpates. We do have to chip in for a bus when one is used, about 200 Kronar (about $30) for a 2 hour return trip. Luckily the parents of one of the boys owns the local bus company. Teams are responsibe for cafeteria duties and selling programs at games on a rotating basis. For example, H got to work in the cafeteria for one shift during one of the local A-lag (senior team) games and M will sell programs at a game tonight.
Coaching- K has been working with 3 different teams as well as helping out with the school hockey program (from 7-10 icetimes/wk). Coaches here are referred to as trainers and practices are called training. All of the coaches have been super freiendly and accepting of the new English speaking coach from Canada. The coaches have their own office/lounge/locker room where they keep their gear, meet for kaffe (coffee), etc. It is interesting that before each match (game) the home (hem) coaches have a meeting, where they provide kaffe and sweets, with the opposing coaching staff to discuss hockey in general, the game, past games, etc. Scorekeepers and other minor officials are also provided with a tray of kaffe and snacks.

Helmia Arena is owned by the town but sponsored by the local Volvo dealer. Sunne IK (ishockey klubb) pays no ice rental fees but they do pay for the salaries of 1.5 rinkies. This system varies from town to town, for example in the neighbouring town, Munkfors, the ishockey klubb owns the arena. The access to ice time is good in Sunne but it is even better in Munkfors. Another interesting thing is that stinky hockey gear stays at the arena. Each team has a heated, dehunmidified, locked storage room where the players keep their gear in plastic bins/baskets. The boys are pictured with their gear after practice. As you can imagine it is great to be able to leave your gear at the rink. Their is also a skate sharpening room to which all of the teams have access.
Teams are determined by year of birth generally in one year increments unlike Canada. However, since Sunne is a small town it is difficult to field a team in every age group. So, we have U-16 (A-Pojkar(boys)), U-14 (P-93/94), and U-12 (P-95) teams on which the boys are playing. M plays and practices with the U-16 and U-14 teams, while D plays with the U-12 and practices with the U-14 sometimes. There is definitely no shortage of ice time. M's school is about 100 metres from the arena so he goes to school hockey 1-2 times per week and he is also able to go shoot some pucks at lunchtime. On the other side of the arena is a field house/gymnasium with an indoor soccer field and regular gym. There is also a track next to the school. These areas are called idrottsplats (sports place). Excellent facilities easily accessed by school and community. Many communities are arranged this way in Sweden

Overall, the boys have had fairly successful seasons here in Sunne. They have met new friends, learned some Swedish, travelled around, and had lots of fun by playing hockey for SIK. D's team has some more league games coming up as well as a couple of tournaments to end the season. There are no "provincials" or nationals here in Sweden. M's team is pictured here after winning the silver medal in a "provincial" Varmland tournament. They lost to Färjestad in the final. Färjestad is the equivalent of a select team as they recruit from the surrounding klubbs (a la BWC,NSWC); no residency requirements here. An excellent result for the boys.











Another interesting winter sport here is Bandy. It is a combination of hockey, field hockey, and soccer/football. Bandy is played on outdoor ice with a stick that is a cross between a field hockey stick and a hockey stick. There are 10 players and a goalie playing on a huge , soccer field sized, ice surface. Lots of skating, no body checking, larger net than hockey, small ball, quite an interesting game.

Their is also an indoor version, innebandy (like floor hockey) which is played by all of the

kids in and out of school, for fun and competitively.

Öl i Sverige (Beer in Sweden)

Another part of our trip has been the onerous task of trying as many different beers as possible. While on exchange in Australia a couple of years ago, my friend Bruce set the standard of trying 103 different beers. I am currently at 66 different beers after approximatly five months. Of course being in Europe definitely guarantees a large selection of different beers.
Sweden has an interesting way of classifying and retailing their beer. Beer here is classified and priced according to alcohol content. Class I is 2.0-2.2%, class II is 2.8-3.5%, and class III is 4.5-10%. Apparently anyone, regardless of age can buy Class I beer in the local grocery store mixed in a case of 20 with pop, mineral water, or whatever for about 35SEK ($6.00).
Class II beer is also available in the local grocery store but only to those who are at least 18 years of age. I often buy Class II beer as it is convienent, there is a good selection, and it is reasonably cheap (about 50 SEK ($8.00) for a six pack of tall boys).
Class III beer is similar to what we would buy in Canada both interms of price and alcohol content. Many beers can be bought in varying classes ie. high and low test. The selection of class III beer is the best but they can only be purchased at the government run liquor stores, System Bolaget.


Some of the best beer I have had in Sweden has been the Christmas Beer (Jul Öl), which each brewery seems to produce at this time of year.

I am looking forward to trying many more beers as we continue our travels.

Jul preparations

Here we are
getting ready for Christmas (Jul in
Sverige). D is being very helpful (?) getting tape
for his Dad who is wrapping gifts.

Our tree is all in red and white. Generally Christmas trees here are more sparsely decorated than those in Canada. It has been lots of fun pulling out the decorations already in this house and seeing how it all comes together with the few things we purchased. We love the white candle lights and how they clip on to the branches.

Dalhäst

OK...I can't post pictures the old way thru Picasa, but maybe this will work even though it is slow. Between Leksand and Mora is the small community of Nusnäs where the famous Dalarna horses or Dalhäst are made. My mother has 4 of these horses which came out with the Christmas decorations each year. I played with them carefully as a child as they were special and I LOVED horses, and so when the chance came to go and see them being made and maybe get a few of my own we had to go. Here are a couple of pictures from the one of the 3 small operations where they are made.

An interesting twist to this post is that players of the game were given a dalhäst in the World Junior Tournament and a special edition numbered set of these horses were made in Sweden's colours of yellow and blue especially to commemorate this tournament...we have #177.

Does the picture show up?

Here are the two boys outside the Ejendal Ishall in Leksand. These decorative goats are a common Jul decoration here in Sverige, but they are usually made of bundles of straw tied together with red ribbon. They come in all sizes - from little ones to hang on your tree, to big ones like this that stand outside your door.

Testing again....

Last 4 attempts at posting from Picasa have failed (ARGGGGGH!) All work lost - I wouldn't recommend this new and "improved" version of Blogger.

Game 2 of World Juniors

Game 2 for Canada in the World Juniors was held in Mora.
We spent the day of Dec 27 wandering from Leksand to Mora and then headed into the arena an hour early to watch the warm up. Again we sat in a corner in the 4th row. Right beside us was a large group of Canadian fans who turned out to be family members of the Canadian players. We talked with Mrs. and Mr. Parent (parents of #4 Ryan Parent - defenseman) for a bit and and they suggested we could stick around after the game to meet the players and get autographs. Then the game was underway.
The rivalry between the USA and Canada was obvious from the beginning - this was a whole different type of hockey than what we had seen in game 1 when Canada played Sweden. The cheering from the fans was also very different. Swedish fans have a number of songs and clap to any music and have their own clapping rhythms - generally very positive cheering. Canadian fans were less organized and often far
more negative in their cheering. For example any time Jack Johnson stepped on the ice for the USA, there was booing from the Canadians and there were also some jibes for Gerbe"gerbil". But in general, the Canadian fans were loud and proud in supporting their team.
The Game itself was a good one. The 3rd picture shows Canada scoring on a penalty shot after one of the US defensemen threw his stick to stop a shot on goal. Note the waterbottle flying up in the air! The game was close for the first 2 periods and then the Canadians pulled ahead in the 3rd. The final score was 6 - 3.













After the game was over, we waited, and waited until the team trickled in after showering for their 10 minutes of visiting with family and friends before being whisked away again. We felt a little badly about taking some of their precious time, but the players seemed happy to sign M and D's team Canada hats. Our boys were pretty impressed with the whole thing and we headed back home an hour late, but happy.

Our stuga in Leksand

Since we had tickets to Canada's first 2 games (Dec 26 and 27) at the World Juniors, we stayed overnight in Leksand at one of the many stugar or cabins that are found in this area. We have stayed in stugar before, but this one was bigger and nicer. We had our own little kitchen which included a sink with running water - often there is no running water in these cabins and you go to a central building to do dishes or use a toilet or shower. We also had a bathroom - what luxury!


This fireplace shows the typical "hood" you find above most fireplaces and stoves in Sweden. You can see D sitting on a bunk bed in one of the 2 small bedrooms.













Here we are outside the stuga which is on a hillside studded with pine trees overlooking the lake below.









We had breakfast with J, E, and Farfar before they left and headed home. We stayed on to explore the area before the next game in Mora on the night Dec. 27th. Before leaving our little stuga, we had to do the chores - vacuum, tidy up, fold up our bed linens and put them in the car (you bring your own sheets, pillowcases and towels or you pay extra) and make sure the bathroom was clean. If you want someone to do the cleaning for you, you will pay another $50 CAD.

Game 1 of the World Juniors in Leksand

Leksand and Mora are 2 hours north of Sunne,
so we just had to go and check out the World
Junior Icehockey Championships in Leksand and Mora. We had tickets for game 1 in which Canada played Sweden. Here we are in front of the ishall or arena in Leksand before game 1 on boxing day.








We sat in row 1 in the corner by Sweden's goal for period 1 and 3. As you can see, the place was packed. This was Erik's (age 4) first time at a hockey game and he was all eyes for everything from the players to the Zamboni. Mitch tried to persuade him that he should be cheering for Canada not Sweden, but he really just wanted to sit back and watch everything.






We sat right in front of the TSN camera man
which was also interesting for the boys.
In the end, Canada won 2 -0 and at the end of the game, Canada's flag was raised to the national anthem. There were no anthems at the beginning of the game.