Swedish Junior Hockey

Melker Linder from Falkoping played his first hockey while living as ex-pat in the US in North Carolina and is now entering first year in Hockey Gymnasium with Linkoping. We discuss his journey in Sweden and his experience with TV-puck tournament.

Todays guest is National Team Defenseman Ida Press from Leksand SDHL. We talk about her journey from Uppsala to Djurgarden to NCAA in Maine and Providence and now pushing for a spot on the Swedish Olympic Team.

Alfred Lindberg, Centerman with American International University in MA and I talk about his path to the US NCAA D1 college ream via NAHL in New Mexico.

Brock Montpetit, forever immortalized the 2016 season by ending his career with OT goal vs. Modo to bring Leksand back to the SHL. We go down memory lane for that moment as well as looking back at how he got there from Somerset WI.

In this episode we will discuss the details of the different junior leagues in both US and Canada from Tier 1 to Tier 3 and Major Juniors to Junior B.

Felica Frank has always competed at the highest level. Originally from Falkoping, Sweden, to playing SDHL with Brynas now takes the opportunity to play college hockey with Quinnipiac.

Pierre Luc Racette and Jacob Dahlin talks about his coaching career and also his job with Verbero. Hershey Cubs is owned by the Boudreau family and plays in the USPHL in PA.

Max Nystrom and Jacob Dahlin talks about his career from Grastorp in the Swedish Juniors and making the move to USPHL in Patomac Patriots and Pueblo Bulls in the NCDC

Jan and I grew up in villages next to each other and share stories from our upbringings on the ponds in Leksand and how it has shaped our experiences beyond childhood. In this episode we focus on hockey facilities, arenas, costs, design and function and go deep into the opportunities to build smaller mini rinks in Sweden and Jan's prediction of this in the future.

Kori Sych a life coach with the Notre Dame Hounds in the SJHL Jr A and I talk about her role with the Hounds and many other aspects of mental coaching.

Alex Malinowski grew up in Linkoping, Sweden, stayed home to play hockey academy and later got his shot with Malmo Redhawks J20 and SHL before a year in NAHL with Fairbanks and now with AIC in NCAA D1.

Andy Sutton, a 16 year professional player with Atlanta, Ottawa, Edmonton, etc. and I talk about his journey from being undrafted to going to Michigan Tech and enjoying a long and fruitful career in the pros. Today, Andy heads up Verbero, a hockey equipment company that focusing on custom equipment and apparel that is available directly from teams and players without a distributor.

John Paris, Jr has an extensive resume as a player, coach, scout, mentor and sports psychologist in Hockey. We talk about his background and experience and his views of the World Junior Finals between US and Sweden.

Ryan Hay, a defenseman from North Carolina discusses his journey from youth hockey in Charlotte, NC to the Canadian Junior A league PIJHL in British Columbia via Detroit U18 AAA with Honeybaked.

Marius Angelin is originally from Gothenburg and grew up in Backen's youth hockey program. After a fall season in the USPHL Tier 3 system, a friend gives him a call asking him if he would like to talk to the Frolunda J20 National Coach. This led to the NAHL in Danbury and eventually in Wilkes-Barre Scranton in the NCDC.

Dominic Bovan 2003 goalie from Bratislava and I talk about his journey from the Slovakian youth hockey program in Bratislava to prep school, juniors and eventually ending up in SUNY Plattsburg in NCAA Division 3. We also talk about his business ventures and goals beyond college.

Kevin Yellowaga is the skills coach for Brooks Bandits in the AJHL, one of the top junior teams in Tier II in North America and a consistent producer of D1 talent and beyond. IN todays episode we talk about AJHL, their recent trip to Sweden and also of course Cale Makar but also Devin Philips from NC.

Louis Crookes is the youth hockey director in Skelleftea AIK. In this episode we talk about him growing up in Leksand and how his path of coaching is brother Zaki provided the path to move with his girlfriend to Skelleftea and taking a position as the youth director in one of the most notable programs in Sweden.

Dion Antisin grew up in Lugano, Switzerland where his father played pro and later moved back to Canada where he played both youth and junior hockey for Notre Dame Hounds in the SJHL. After a couple of years pro in Switzerland he moved over to coach his alma mater in Notre Dame and now in Boden J20 in the Swedish Junior 2nd league.

Marcus is the new head coach of Falu IF J18 Region and we talk about his experience in Canadian Juniors in the GMHL and NA3HL as well as combining head coaching duties with university studies in Sweden.