Lillehammer hockey rinks. Far right is the Olympic Arena for the 1994 Winter Games. Lower right is Kristins Hall, the home of the author’s IsHockeyKlubb. Lower middle behind the trees is a new practice facility to open in September.
Last Updated on Friday, 06 September 2013 11:44
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Hello from Norway. I am greeting you from Lillehammer, a beautiful smallish town of less than 30,000 residents. This wonderful small city was host to the 1994 Winter Olympics. That particular Olympics was famous for the Swedish hockey team beating Canada for the gold in a shootout. I don’t think any of us like to see a meaningful game ended by a shootout, but a famous ending it was. The 1994 Winter Games were also famous for the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan feud ending with a lead pipe to the knee. Fact sometimes is stranger than fiction!
In most European countries, teams work out of clubs. That is not uncommon in the U.S., though it is mostly uncommon in the State of Hockey. Lillehammer has a club, their IsHockeyKlubb! Lillehammer has young teams, as well as the older versions like the U-18 and U-20. The team I coach is their professional team that plays in Norway’s top professional league, the Get Liagen. We have seven imports (non-Norwegians) – three from Minnesota, one Nebraska, one Missouri, one Canada and one Sweden with the rest of the team being from Norway.
Norway is close to the size of Minnesota and other than it has mountains, the basic look is very much the same. The landscape is full of Norway Pines, making a Minnesota kid feel right at home.
The population of Norway is also close to that of Minnesota, at just under five million. Their hockey participation, however, is about a tenth of that of Minnesota. Approximately 50,000 hockey players in Minnesota; just 5,000 in Norway.
As one might expect, Norway is trying their best to compete on the world stage, but with just 5,000 hockey participants, it is not easy to do. As part of this effort to elevate their play and training regiments, all the teams in the Get Liagen gathered in Oslo early in August at the Olympic Training center to participate in a league-wide competition of baseline strength testing. Players ran the 40, competed in pull-ups, squats and the like. Teams ended up with overall grades to compare to one another. Our Minnesota boys and our other import players, all of whom have played collegiately in the U.S. were well-prepared physically and tested well.
Matt Case (Plymouth, Minn.) doing chin-ups at the league-wide baseline testing in Oslo.
For the past month, we have been training and playing a number of preseason games, some with league members and some with second division teams from Sweden. The games are competitive but certainly different in style from what we are accustomed to in North America. The game over here is played a little more under control and strategic. The game seems to be influenced a bit by soccer, with more lateral and backward passing. Attacks come a little more in waves. It can be an effective strategy but it lacks at times the raw aggressiveness of hockey as we know it in North America.
As for me, I have a complete new team. Nick Dineen played for me for three years in Sioux Falls before his excellent four-year career at Colorado College. Other than that, every player is new to me and me to them. Molding a team from differing styles of play and different personalities is a challenge. It is a great learning opportunity for sure.
There are new names to learn, but being from a state with much in the way of Norwegian heritage is helpful. On our team and staff we have three Ole’s (over here however, it is pronounced Uuu-la), we have a Kjetil (Sha-til), Ingar, Deg, Tor, Crister, Vegard and yes we have a Ragnar!
There is no doubt that this is a unique challenge. All seven imports are new to Lillehammer. The head coach is new. That is a lot of change. My hope is to help this team and the entire klub take the best of all hockey worlds and mold it into one successful team. So far, I really like our players and staff. We have a long way to go to be a cohesive team.
Outside of hockey, I walk to the rink every day and love doing so. There was a huge bike race in town this weekend ... almost 30,000 participants. It is a healthy and active culture. Yet this winter, World Cup ski jumping will be here and after the first of the year, World Cup downhill skiing. These events should prove to be great cultural experiences as well.
