Preseason 29/08

Just because I forgot to mention it yesterday, AIK are from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

The other major team from Stockholm is Djurgårdens IF, also founded in 1891, they are by far the team AIK hates the most. The Stockholm derby played between these two teams is probably the most emotional game in the world. With two shortsides filled with crazy supporters from each team both trying their best to sing louder than the others. It is a fantastic game with an atmosphere you can't find anywhere else. If you ever get the chance to see this game, I strongly, strongly recommend you to do so. You will not regret it. Last year former NHL player Georges Laraque (who by the way is an AIK fan) flew over from Canada just to see the final derby, on the same day AIK was celebrating 120 years.

So back to AIK, the team just returned from a session in Finland, playing Ilves and HPK. The game against Ilves resulted in a narrow loss, but the last game against HPK resulted in a 4-3 win. A player who really showed quality in both games, actually during thenwhole preseason, is Joakim Nordström, a young player born 1992 who is going to play his first year in the first squad. He is showing much promise and I think he might develop to be a key player this year, together with the new recruit Linus Videll who came from SSK. SSK were relegated last year, still Linus managed to score 47 points, not too bad coming from the team who finished last.

What AIK didn't have last year was a "star". There weren't any players showing extreme individual skill and excelling from the others, everything was a team effort and to be honest there wasn't much difference between our first chain and our fourth chain. Linus and Jocke could be just what AIK need to win even more games and hopefully go for the gold (although we shouldn't get our hopes up yet). The power play, which we did have some trouble with last year will hopefully also improve, with the new recruit Robert Rosén, who is a power play expert. With the two-way back Josh MacNevin fully recovered after breaking his leg against Timrå last year (after a horrible tackle by Ikka Pikkarainen) our power play will hopefully be over or at least around 20%. Ikka Pikkarainen is forever hated at Hovet (our arena) after what he did, and Patrick Blomdahl (the closest we've got to an enforcer) showed him that last year to the crowds enjoyment!

The next game is against SSK this Wednesday (31/08) at Hovet. This will be the first game I see live this season, and hopefully it will result in a well played game and a win!
I'll be back with a report from the game as soon as possible, hopefully wednesday evening.