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.