Of the 30 choices made in the first round of the NHL draft, 17 fell on Canadian nationals, 7 on Swedes, 5 Americans and just one from Russia. The seven Swedes were one more than their best year so far in 1993. What's more remarkable is that not a single goaltender was selected among the first 30!
First choice overall was John Tavares, selected by the New York Islanders, followed by Sweden's Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay, and Matt Duchene, Colorado. The only notable...
Our new Discus, only 3 weeks old, has already delivered results.
Gerd Kanter has set the new Seasons Best result with Maxi Rim "Gerd Kanter" special edition discus. The new seasons best is 71,64 m. We hope that we will deliver the new World Record at the World Championship in Berlin this August. Look closely for that orange round thing on TV.
The fans helping the Penguins celebrate their Stanley Cup victory could be counted in their hundreds of thousands in downtown Pittsburgh last week. The Penguins managed to make the final after being all but out of a chance of attaining a playoff place four months earlier but recorded 18-3-4 in matches after taking on AHL coach Dan Bylsma during the regular season. This record took the team to a fourth place in the Eastern Conference and a successful playoffs...
Dancing is considered as sports among some people and dancing in a very specific way is one of the things we do at the Swedish Midsummer Holiday this Friday.
We celebrate Midsummer because it is the longest day of the year in Sweden. In northern part of Sweden where I live, the sun never goes down this time of year.
A tradition is to cover a wooden cross with birch leaves and flowers. We put this cross in the middle of the lawn and everybody dances around it hand in hand. We usually do a very special danc...
So the 2008/09 season finally came to an end with the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the seventh game in the Stanley Cup Final. Much has already been written and said about the final but I want to concentrate on poor Marian Hossa. He was with the losing side Pittsburgh in last year's Stanley Cup Final when Detroit Redwings won 4-2 in matches. After that, he became a free agent but was offered a long-term contract with the Penguins which he declined, instead he...
All square over the pond. Pittsburgh Penguins last night equalised in matches to 3-3 and forced a seventh and deciding match in Detroit against the Redwings. In last night's match, the deciding factor was the Penguins' keeper Marc-Andre Fleury. He really stepped up when it counted and made 25 saves in the 2-1 win, including the final minutes when Detroit pressurised the Penguins' goal.
He pulled out what could be called the save of the series so far when Dan Cleary came free on a breakaway with 1:41 remaining. Fleury stayed with the puck as Cleary switched from forehand to backhand...
The grand old man of javelin throwing, Janis Lusis from Latvia, turned 70 on May 19th . The master of javelin throwing, who have Olympic medals of all values, who was four time European champion and who achieved his last world record when he threw the old javelin 93,80 at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium...
Penalty killing has been a problem for the Detroit Redwings all season. That's what allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins back into the Stanley Cup final series once it moved to Pittsburgh after Detroit gained a 2-0 advantage at home. In game four last Thursday, it was their power play that let them down instead. Things were going fine for the Wings in the middle period when Brad Stuart gave them the lead and then they were given back-to-back power-plays from 5:44 in the period. However, nothing came from the power-plays and the Penguins even scored a shorthanded goal in the second. These events...
Being 2-0 down in matches is a mountain to ascend if you're going to even out a best of seven series, let alone win it, but that's just what Pittsburgh Penguins has done once already this year. They were 2-0 down against second seed Washington Capitals in round two of the playoffs and looked to be on their way out when they won the next three games to gain the advantage. They eventually took the entire series with a convincing 6-2 win away to Washington. Now they can be on their way to doing it again after winning the third match in the Stanley Cup Final on home ice to Detroit. We'll see...
If you've been following this blog during the NHL playoffs, you'll have noticed I'm not impressed with the home ice advantage gained during the regular season. I'm not especially up on numbers and statistics but let's take a look:
There were a total of 80 matches played in 14 match series in the three playoff rounds leading up to the final. Of these matches, only 5 were 7th match deciders and the home team came out on top in only two of them. Round two was the closest with three of the four series going to a 7th match, with home ice being decisive in only one o...