2012 1103 Beginning of Regular Season

Over the past month, I have finished with my tutoring, grown used to my everyday schedule, and have played a lot of hockey. On October 17th, I took my PSAT test to open up options for high school next year back in the U.S. I think I did pretty well, especially on the math and writing sections, but I am still waiting to receive my results. Currently, I am looking at prep schools for the following year that have strong academics and a high level of hockey. These are all schools in the New England region. In addition, my homework has leveled off and I am not as stressed. This week is Fall Break in Sweden so I haven't had school. Our regular season has started a few weeks ago. It has been a tough start so far. We have lost three close games and won one in a blowout. We will have many games in the next six weeks leading up to Christmas. I am skating better and my speed is improving. The weather here has dropped to around freezing. Last week, we had a dusting of snow and the clocks changed so now it gets dark at about 4:00.

2012 0930 End of a Busy Month

This past month many things have happened that are starting to get me into an everyday rountine. Schoolwork has escalated quickly and we are beginning to receive much more homework in school. There are projects and essays along with other homework that I have spent a lot of time focusing on. I'm also doing two tutoring sessions a week online to prepare to take the PSAT test in under a month. This test is necessary if I decide to go to a hockey boarding school next year in the United States. In addition to my academics, I have been skating nearly everyday in practice and have played several games as well. A few weeks ago we won a small tournament in Sundsvall, which is four hours by car north of Stockholm. We won and tied two games each while playing very competitive games against the host team who we eventually beat 10-7 in the final. We have won a few exbition games and have a few left to play before the regular season starts in about two weeks. Practice has been going a little better for me and has been very rewarding.

2012 0901 Back on the Ice

Much has happened since I arrived in Stockholm almost a month ago. A few weeks ago I started skating again in Sweden at Rimbo. It has been tough to adjust to a different style of hockey at a higher level after a dissapointing season back in the United States last year. However, after a groin injury and a couple weeks recovering, I am getting closer to where I want to be. We have played some exibition games including the Bauer Cup in Stockholm as well as some friendly games here and there. I have also began my studies at the Stockholm International School the past two and a half weeks. I have felt very comfortable at the school since the first few days. Last week we went on a class trip to Storulvan in Jamtland for class bonding and hiking. I have made many friends so far from several countries including Sweden, Finalnd, United States, Germany, England, and others. I had a ton of fun on the trip in places including the airplane we travelled on, the bus, our room (with two bunkbeds), the sauna, and the mountains.

2012 0804 Back Again

A few weeks ago I decided to move back to Sweden and play for Taby again. It was a very difficult decision to leave home but if I want to play hockey at a high level, this was my only choice. Starting in two weeks I will be going into 10th grade at the Stockholm International School. Almost all of the classes are in English where as last time I went to a school that spoke mostly Swedish. I'm very excited that we start skating in a couple days. It will feel great to get back on the ice. I'm also very excited to be staying with the Svensson's family again. We have been fixing the house in ways including painting the roof, building another bedroom, and cleaning out storage items. It already feels like home as I am unpacked after arriving Wednesday.

2011 0825 Karlstad

Championship Arena

This is the rink where the championship was played in the tournament last week. The tournament took place throught Central Sweden in six different places. This was a big preseason tournament with 36 teams including two from Taby. Along with Josh and Ture, I played on the second team. We were okay and competed in ten out of our eleven games. We played five games in the first round which took two days. Unfortunately, we ended up fifth out of six teams and went into the C-playoffs. In this round we stepped up our play to go 4-1. At the conclusion of the tournament we ended up .500. However, the other Taby team played very well, qualifying for the A-playoffs where they would stay undefeated to go to the championship. After a close game with Brynas in the big arena the game would go to overtime tied 1-1. On a Taby powerplay Gustav Skyttvall blasted a slapper past the goalie to give Taby the win in dramatic fashion! It was a fun tournament for us Americans and playing in Sweden is always special. It was great to see Taby win another event. The bus rides to and from Karlstad were a blast as well. The drive was about four hours plus the time that it took us to stop and eat. The vehicle was pretty packed with around forty people filling up the fifty seats or so. After another day in Stockholm we flew home on Tuesday morning. First though, I went to school for a quick hello and said good-bye to the Svensson's and my teammates. After a long day on Tuesday with a shocking earthquake in the Washington D.C. area we arrived home. While the earthquake did not cause any injuries or much damage, it was the biggest on the east coast for 70 years. In two days we will prepare for a pretty strong hurricane that is coming up the East Coast already. I will try to keep blogging about the school year here and anything more I hear from Sweden.



2011 0816 Training Camp

Rimbo

This last week we had some really tough practices back in Rimbo. We did a lot of running in the off-ice to get us back in shape for the upcoming season. It was a lot of fun to be back in Sweden practicing with Taby again. Besides a couple players that left the team and some new faces that arrived it is still the same team at the same level. Josh was there for the whole week and Ture arrived on the weekend. Throughout the week we had some practice games that were part of the Stockholm Bauer Invite. The team won some including a win against the U.S. Selects but also lost some. In the end Taby finished third out of six teams. Today we will take the bus to Karlstad where there is a big tournament. Taby has two teams in this tournament. My dad also arrived this morning and will stay until we will both leave on next Tuesday. It was fun to play in Rimbo as this was where my first game in Sweden took place. This will be my last week in Sweden for some time, but I will be back in the future for sure.



2011 0808 Camp

Logo

This past week I went to Michael Nylander's camp along with a few other players from Taby. There were many good players there. Althouh we only skated twice a day it felt great to be back on the ice on a regular basis. We played a lot of soccer and did much running here on the off-ice as well. Yesterday was a calm day just relaxing and today we will go into the city to tour around a bit. Soon coming up is Taby's camp with the Bauer Invite thrown in among the practices. This will be coached by Fredrik again and will be fun to be back with the team. Josh, my teammate from the United States arrived yesterday and another player, Ture will arrive next week, about the same time as my dad. then everybody will take the bus to central Sweden in Karlstad. Here is a pretty big preseason tournament. After this we will fly out of Stockholm back home to the United States. I will have two weeks vacation before school starts up in the United States this time though!



2011 0731 Return to Sweden



Arrival



Hanging Out

Playing Mini-Golf



Swimming



XBox

Above are some pictures of my first day. Today, I have returned to Stockholm to practice some more hockey. I am very tired because of jetlag, but have finally made it back to the Svensson's house this morning. Yesterday was a very hectic day back in the United States, trying to catch the flight which was not easy. Tomorrow through Saturday I am skating in a camp with Michael Nylander before a couple days off. Then I will take part in Taby's preseason camp in Rimbo before I cap off the trip with a tournament in Karlstad. My dad is coming at the start of this week. Two of my teammates in the United States are joining me as well for this. This should get me ready for the start of hockey season in the United States right when I get back. My time on the west coast was pretty fun. We caught a lot of fish in Alaska before heading to Oakland and coming home. I am looking forward to see everyone again around the rink.

2011 0710 Pictures!

Breakfast



Baseball Game




Washington D.C.




Niagara Falls




Hockey Hall of Fame





2010 0704 4th of July

Fireworks

For those in Sweden that do not know today is Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate this by watching fireworks in the evening with family and friends. These last two weeks we have also had the Svensson's come and leave. They arrived the third week of June along with the Skyttvall's who also stayed with us for almost a week. We did some cool things including going down to Washington D.C. for a full day. We had several practices in the area including one with Freddy who is spending the summer in the United States. Soon we were off to Buffalo for NAPS with the Washington All-Stars. We got there a day early so we decided to visit the Niagara Falls. The falls were amazing and there were many pictures taken in that time with all three families. Then it was time for the tournament. We ended up 2-2 losing in the sweet sixteen. At times it was frustrating for some of us. We travelled across the border to Toronto after the tournament to visit the town. Some highlights there were of dinner in the CN Tower and looking at the Hockey Hall of Fame. We said good-bye to the Skyttvall's and travelled home with many bags. The Svensson's stayed another few days before heading to Florida. We mostly spent time around the house, swimming a lot. On the second to last day we took them to a baseball game in Baltimore. We were allowed onto the field before the game to watch some batting practice. It was a fun night with a huge thunderstorm in the middle which caused a delay. At the end the St. Louis Cardinals came out on top with a 6-2 victory over the hometown Orioles. Soon I will be going to the west coast to visit my family for two weeks. Our destinations include Seattle, Montana, Alaska, and Oakland. I will be home for a week or two before flying back to Stockholm and staying with the Svensson's for three weeks before I come back and school starts.

2011 0703 First Few Months Home

Me Playing Baseball

These last few months I have caught up with everything in the United States including baseball as you see here. In April I was very busy skating in hockey clinics and tryouts about twice a week. This is while baseball season was starting up for me. I had baseball three or four times per week which included mostly games. (In all I probably played about forty-five games and only ten practices in the short season). At the end of April I played in a hockey tournament in Toronto with mostly players from Washington. In May I continued with baseball season with more rest in between games. I aso celebrated my birthday. Throughout the spring/summer I have played golf about three times a week. The short three month season is already over and now I am getting ready to travel and for next hockey season.

2011 0324 Champions!

Flag

Last Saturday was the Final of Mitt i Cupen, which is the league that Taby plays in. We came out and overpowered SDE to win big 7-0! This was gigantic for us as it has been the team's goals the main season. In the middle of the season we had struggled. Then our coaches decided to put us through three weeks of difficult training. This finally payed off as we won every game the last two months to capture our trophy. The next day was very tiring in Rimbo as we were on the ice for over four hours that day. Monday was my last practice with the team. Everybody was very nice and thankful for me playing in Sweden. Thank you to everyone who helped me out in my time in Sweden. I enjoyed most of the year a lot and will visit again later for sure. Wednesday we flew nine hours home to New York. After travelling by train and car for the next seven hours we arrived home in Baltimore! I am so excited to be home and seeing everybody that I missed here but am already missing everyone in Stockholm. The whole trip feels like a dream because all of yesterday the Eastern Coast was covered in a foggy, rainy storm. The next few weeks I have much baseball now and hockey tryouts for next year. I might continue to write in this blog a little bit every few weeks. Now I have much unpacking to do as we had eleven bags between the three of us. Good luck to everybody in Taby!

2011 0319 School's Out

Logo

This past Tuesday we travelled south to battle the Arlanda Wings in our tough semifinal matchup. After a slow start we rallied to score three quick goals at the end of the first period to lead 3-1. In the second we kept fighting and clawed out a close 4-1 victory. We played pretty well defensively and shut down their strong, powerful players. It was a great game, one of the best of the year for us and was nice revenge from when they tied us in Gothenberg. We were very happy after the game to be moving on to the final against SDE who later won their game 5-2 over a suprising underdog team. Unfortunately, the 96 and 98 teams both lost by one goal in their semifinals to Nacka. The 99 team and our team are both in their championship which will be played today. I will write more about the upcoming game and my departure to the United States after I leave Sweden. My dad and his fried arrived yesterday and will leave with me on Wednesday morning. My last day of school was yesterday, Friday because Monday and Tuesday we will probably tour Stockholm one last time.



2011 0313 Long Weekend

Me with the Svensson's the First Day in Sweden

This picture also brings back a lot of memories of my first time in Sweden. It is still hard to believe that I am leaving in about a week. Last weekend we won an exibition game against a very good team in Nacka by the score of 6-2. This was a big game for us to get ready for the final three games of the playoffs. Yesterday, I got up around six in the morning and got back around 11 at night. I got called to play a 7-game-1-day tournament with a lower team. We won more than we lost and eventually lost 4-3 in overtime in the final to Viggan which is the other team in Taby. This was a great day with tons of playing time for me and the others. I scored five goals and three assists which is pretty high for me considering that I was playing defense the whole time. Today we had another game and won 8-2. The game was far away against an average team. I scored two assists in this win as well. In the first team we upset Huddinge for the third time this season with a 4-3 win in the quarterfinals. This was a huge win against one of another of the best teams in Sweden. We will advance to the semifinals to play our rival Arlanda Wings on Tuesday night. It will be another tough, close game with them. Arlanda was the team who barely won the Gothenberg tournament over us. I will blog once more before my return. 

2011 0305 Playoffs!

Picture From My First Game

This picture from my first game brings back a lot of memories from my first weeks in Sweden. I will be leaving in about two weeks now and hopefully coming back for a few weeks in the summer or later. We only have 2-5 games remaining in our schedule now, depending on if we win or not. It has been a lot of fun here in Sweden the last seven months, but I am excited to return home soon. The last three weeks my dad has left (he will come again in about ten days to pick me up), I have gotten hitten in the head in a hard check, and I have been sick for one week. I missed some practices, but I am back up to speed with a spring camp and more practices. I only have about eight days left of school as I am getting packed and getting ready to say good-bye to everybody in Sweden. We have gotten eight more inches of snow again as well. It has been a lot of fun staying here and playing hockey and I hope we win the playoffs! I will do another blog or two before I return to the United States.

2011 0222 Finland vs. Sweden Pictures

Pregame

Ericsson Globe

End of the Game

Us in our Seats

Erik, Calle, and I

2011 0215 Two Wins

Our Team Photo

This last week we only had practice four times and one important victory against SDE 6-2. This is a team that is a little bit ahead of us in the standings and around the same skill level as us. After a close first period we broke out to a big lead and beat our rival once again. The day after we went into Stockholm and to the Ericsson Globe where the Sweden vs. Finland was. The Globe is the largest circular structure in the world and there were about 10,000 people at the game. A lot of the people were youth hockey players with their families. It was very close until Sweden finally won in a shootout and also won the entire tournament. At the game I got a Sweden jersey that is yellow and has three crowns. This week we conclude the regular season with an easier game before the playoffs start next week. My dad will come tomorrow and is staying for around five days. Also, my grandmother will come for the weekend and watch me practice hockey on two busy days. It is feeling more like winter again as we got about eight inches of snow and the temperatures are low below freezing. Later I will show some pictures of the game.

2011 0207 Super Bowl!

Super Bowl XLV

Yesterday was the Super Bowl for American Football for those who did not know. It started at 12:30a.m. on TV here in Sweden. I slept for a few hours before and a few hours after last night. It was a great game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Around 4:15 in the morning Green Bay prevailed with a 31-25 victory. In the United States I am always part of a party, but it was different this year. Also, the commercials were not part of the game in Stockholm. This was after an unusual practice where our team did some unexpected things. First, during the off-ice training we ran across a small bay/inlet. It has stayed cold enough for the ice to be very thick. After doing a few agility drills we finished with playing soccer for twenty minutes. The three weeks of difficult training are over now and I think it has finally payed off. It will be normal training again but it will not be easy either. After a slow start on Saturday, we won 4-1 over a below average team. This next Saturday we play our rival, SDE again. We have owned the competition so far as we are 3-1-1 against them. After this game and another one it is playoffs. My dad and grandmother come next week for 3-6 days as well. But first we have only four practices this week which still seems like a lot and are going to a hockey game between Sweden and Finland. It will be the best players for the two teams minus the players in the NHL at the Globe on Sunday evening which is the big hockey arena in Stockholm.



2011 0130 Close Loss and Big Win

Me on the Train

During this week we were challenged some more on and off the ice during the practices. We had six practices this week and will have six the next. However, we were rewarded with two games this week and one next week. The first game was extremely tough against Arlanda on Friday night. After a few lead changes they hung on to win 3-2. This was a rematch from what was basically the Championship in Gothenberg. We moved on after that tough defeat and were ready to win our next game against one of the worst teams in the league. We scored early and often as Taby marched to a 17-0 victory. The difficult practices from the week are paying off now. There will be one more week still of these practices. I am getting used to the tiring skating, running, and physical conditioning. I think both teams are improving though proving that it is necessary. It will be hard for us to make the top three spots in our division as we keep falling behind. However, we are in the playoffs still and have a good chance at winning any game we play in. My dad is coming in a little over two weeks. I now only have eight more weeks left in Taby. The time has gone by very fast. Hopefully some people here can come visit the United States this summer.

2011 0124 A Tough Week

Another Picture of my Dog

This has been a very tough week of hockey training. It will be like that for two more weeks to get the team back in top form and ready for the playoffs. The first three days the ice training were difficult and even without pucks the first day. The physical training was just as hard as we ran several kilometers each day in the wet snow/ice. Shane left Thursday morning to go back to the United States. Recently we have had medium-hard practices the last two days of the week. We tied the game 3-3 dissappointingly. They got off to a 3-1 start before we came back and tied 3-3. Our second goalie played pretty well. They were one of the bottom teams in the league and we fell another point out of first place. This week we have a huge game against the Arlands Wings who we tied in Gothenberg before playing an easier game on Saturday, the day after. We have training everyday this week and it will be similar to last week. However, I think our team needs it to start playing better and get in better shape and that can happen with practice. The cold is back but there is no snow yet.