All thoughts today go to the horrible tragedy of the Lokomotiv Jaroslavl hockey team, and especially the Swedish goalkeeper Stefan Liv. Stefan became 30 years old and he leaves a wide and two children behind him. Stefan will be remembered as a true legend to all Swedish hockey fans. Rest in peace and know that we are thinking about you.
On another note (even though this has nothing to do with AIK), how will KHL handle this disaster? A whole squad is gone. Will they copy NHL's system of an "extension draft", where Lokomotive would get the chance to recruit players from other KHL teams? Or will they solve it in some other way?
And in to something positive in all this devastation, AIK are playing Skellefteå in the second to last preseason game tomorrow. Elitserien is really getting close! Six days to go...
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Tuesday 6 September 2011
7 days...
As the title says, there's seven days left to the elitserie permier and nine days till AIK's first game against Timrå.
The Elitserie tickets were released on monday this week (05/09) and surprise, surprise, Ticnet crashed... Ticnet is the company handling all the ticket sales for hockey games in Sweden. The very clever people working there of course decided to put all these tickets out for sale at the same time. This resulted in not many people being able to buy tickets, and their servers being down for several hours. However, AIK have not released their tickets for this years first derby. The two Stockholm teams have an agreement to give some of the ticket sales to the other team when when they play at home, and vice versa. AIK will release their 1300 tickets tomorrow the 8th of september at 10 am. I'm hoping their are still a few left when I get home in the evening, otherwise I'll probably go mental...
AIK are playing their next preseason game against Skellefteå AIK on Thursday (09/09) at 7 pm. The game is played up in northern Sweden, thank good they're broadcasting it on TV so I don't have to travel up there... With enough players back and fit for fight we should have no trouble winning, Skellefteå did make it to the final last year and finished third in the league. But their troop is strongly decimated this year, they lost a few young talents to NHL. Among them David Rundblad, who I reckon will grow to be a fantastic player, even though he has a VERY diffrent style of playing. You might have noticed something with the name, Skellefteå AIK... Yes, they have copied us, in everything! Even their logo is basically a rip-off from ours. And can you guess their colours? Black and yellow.
I'll be back with a report from the game against the copycats of the north.
The Elitserie tickets were released on monday this week (05/09) and surprise, surprise, Ticnet crashed... Ticnet is the company handling all the ticket sales for hockey games in Sweden. The very clever people working there of course decided to put all these tickets out for sale at the same time. This resulted in not many people being able to buy tickets, and their servers being down for several hours. However, AIK have not released their tickets for this years first derby. The two Stockholm teams have an agreement to give some of the ticket sales to the other team when when they play at home, and vice versa. AIK will release their 1300 tickets tomorrow the 8th of september at 10 am. I'm hoping their are still a few left when I get home in the evening, otherwise I'll probably go mental...
AIK are playing their next preseason game against Skellefteå AIK on Thursday (09/09) at 7 pm. The game is played up in northern Sweden, thank good they're broadcasting it on TV so I don't have to travel up there... With enough players back and fit for fight we should have no trouble winning, Skellefteå did make it to the final last year and finished third in the league. But their troop is strongly decimated this year, they lost a few young talents to NHL. Among them David Rundblad, who I reckon will grow to be a fantastic player, even though he has a VERY diffrent style of playing. You might have noticed something with the name, Skellefteå AIK... Yes, they have copied us, in everything! Even their logo is basically a rip-off from ours. And can you guess their colours? Black and yellow.
I'll be back with a report from the game against the copycats of the north.
Saturday 3 September 2011
I just realised it's exactly two weeks to the away premier against Färjestad. Last year we played the 9 times, losing 9 out of those times. You could easily say that they're a nightmare for us. I can only hope we beat them this time to break a very bad trend. But if we manage t get all our players ready we should stand a good chance. Sure, FBK won the gold last year, but they have lost a few key players, like Dick Axelsson who went to MoDo, and their first keeper Alexander Salak.
I still haven't booked my trip down to Karlstad, but I'll get on it once I get back to Stockholm. Bus trip back and forth plus ticket to the game: 300kr. Which is a great price considering the trip is about four hours each way and a game ticket usually costs 150 kr.
I also that more than 16 000 tickets have been sold for the football derby against Djurgården on the 19th. Hopefully we can get an audience of about 30 000, since this is a game where AIK are going for Europa league, and Djurgården are in the risk zone of being relegated. Thank god I'm an AIK fan! The hockey derby tickets, being played the next day on the 20th, will be released tomorrow the fifth of september. I reckon it'll be sold out so I'm getting my ticket as soon as I can!
And just to finish off, Mohammed Bangura scored Sierra Leone's second goal, for the result 2-1 in the 89th minute. Once again showing what an amazing player he is. I really am gutted we didn't get to keep him for the rest of the season, but no blame on Mohammed, he has my full respect after saving us from relegation las season, and being a massive part of this years success which will hopefully lead to playing in Europe next season. Gold is still technically possible, but I wouldn't get my hopes up... I'll try to get a league table in here tomorrow, so you can judge our chances yourself!
I still haven't booked my trip down to Karlstad, but I'll get on it once I get back to Stockholm. Bus trip back and forth plus ticket to the game: 300kr. Which is a great price considering the trip is about four hours each way and a game ticket usually costs 150 kr.
I also that more than 16 000 tickets have been sold for the football derby against Djurgården on the 19th. Hopefully we can get an audience of about 30 000, since this is a game where AIK are going for Europa league, and Djurgården are in the risk zone of being relegated. Thank god I'm an AIK fan! The hockey derby tickets, being played the next day on the 20th, will be released tomorrow the fifth of september. I reckon it'll be sold out so I'm getting my ticket as soon as I can!
And just to finish off, Mohammed Bangura scored Sierra Leone's second goal, for the result 2-1 in the 89th minute. Once again showing what an amazing player he is. I really am gutted we didn't get to keep him for the rest of the season, but no blame on Mohammed, he has my full respect after saving us from relegation las season, and being a massive part of this years success which will hopefully lead to playing in Europe next season. Gold is still technically possible, but I wouldn't get my hopes up... I'll try to get a league table in here tomorrow, so you can judge our chances yourself!
Friday 2 September 2011
AIK - Almtuna 02/09
So here's the update I promised. Unfortunately I couldn't attend today's game, since I'm not in Stockholm this week-end, but I followed the twitterposts with great enthusiasm!
The always magnificent Swedish national football team played Hungary in a must win game earlier this evening, colliding with the hockey game. So a modest number of about 200 fans made their way to Hovet earlier on this evening. The injury situation in the team hadn't really improved, but it had rather gotten worse... Today 10 ordinary players were ill, injured, or in other countries. And Almtuna being our cooperative club, three of our most promising youth talents were today playing for them. Five talents from AIK will be spending this season playing first team hockey in Almtuna.
But even with a majorly decreased troop, AIK took the lead no less then three times, only to lose it just as many times. The blame can't be put on Markus Svensson though, our 2nd keeper, who had a great game. He really showed that he wants to compete with Elitseriens best goalie Viktor Fasth. Anyway regulation time finished 3-3 after Patric Blomdahl, one of the Ahström twins, and the new recruit Tobias Viklund all scored. Almtuna then won the game in the penalty shoot-out, unfortunately.
Even though it ended with a defeat, it's good to know our team can still score even with almost half the team not playing. So overall I'm pleased. Once we have all our players available, I can't see any team we should have trouble beating with this years squad. AIK gold 2lax12! (lax meaning thousand, see the famous tatoo Martin Mutumba got a few days before playing the final game 2009, securing the gold)
The always magnificent Swedish national football team played Hungary in a must win game earlier this evening, colliding with the hockey game. So a modest number of about 200 fans made their way to Hovet earlier on this evening. The injury situation in the team hadn't really improved, but it had rather gotten worse... Today 10 ordinary players were ill, injured, or in other countries. And Almtuna being our cooperative club, three of our most promising youth talents were today playing for them. Five talents from AIK will be spending this season playing first team hockey in Almtuna.
But even with a majorly decreased troop, AIK took the lead no less then three times, only to lose it just as many times. The blame can't be put on Markus Svensson though, our 2nd keeper, who had a great game. He really showed that he wants to compete with Elitseriens best goalie Viktor Fasth. Anyway regulation time finished 3-3 after Patric Blomdahl, one of the Ahström twins, and the new recruit Tobias Viklund all scored. Almtuna then won the game in the penalty shoot-out, unfortunately.
Even though it ended with a defeat, it's good to know our team can still score even with almost half the team not playing. So overall I'm pleased. Once we have all our players available, I can't see any team we should have trouble beating with this years squad. AIK gold 2lax12! (lax meaning thousand, see the famous tatoo Martin Mutumba got a few days before playing the final game 2009, securing the gold)
Wednesday 31 August 2011
AIK - SSK 31/08
So I just came home from my first live game this season, which ended in a 2-1 victory to AIK!
In a typical preseason game with lots of mistakes but also a few individual shows, Linus Videll got to score his first goal in the AIK shirt. Very fittingly that it came against his old team, Linus himself was extra pleased by this while interviewed after the game. Stefan Johansson scored AIK's second goal. Given that we had 8 players away in various illnesses, injuries and tax evading schemes, I'm very pleased with the result.
It was great to once again be back at Hovet and see the team I love play hockey again. Although I have to say the atmosphere wasn't what in was used to, given only 1500 people came to see the game. I can't wait to hear 8042 people singing our anthem on the 15th of September.
I also got a look at the new jerseys for the year, they looked very nice! It is now much easier to see which name and number it says on the shirt. Which was a problem last year, especially for the media.
The season passes for this season are selling very good, AIK has sold about 40% more than this time last year, and they expect a rise in the average audience by 20 %. I myself think this is too low, after a good start to the season that number will be closer to 40%, I reckon.
The next game is played against Almtuna at Hovet this Friday (the 4th of september), I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to attend or not, but either way I'll give you a report on how it went!
In a typical preseason game with lots of mistakes but also a few individual shows, Linus Videll got to score his first goal in the AIK shirt. Very fittingly that it came against his old team, Linus himself was extra pleased by this while interviewed after the game. Stefan Johansson scored AIK's second goal. Given that we had 8 players away in various illnesses, injuries and tax evading schemes, I'm very pleased with the result.
It was great to once again be back at Hovet and see the team I love play hockey again. Although I have to say the atmosphere wasn't what in was used to, given only 1500 people came to see the game. I can't wait to hear 8042 people singing our anthem on the 15th of September.
I also got a look at the new jerseys for the year, they looked very nice! It is now much easier to see which name and number it says on the shirt. Which was a problem last year, especially for the media.
The season passes for this season are selling very good, AIK has sold about 40% more than this time last year, and they expect a rise in the average audience by 20 %. I myself think this is too low, after a good start to the season that number will be closer to 40%, I reckon.
The next game is played against Almtuna at Hovet this Friday (the 4th of september), I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to attend or not, but either way I'll give you a report on how it went!
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Bye Bye Mohammed
A few hours ago Mohammed Bangura, the star of our football team, was sold to the Scottish team Celtic. Mohammed was recruited from a division 1 team in Sweden in the summer 2010 as a hope for the future. Instead, he was a success right away and the biggest reason AIK is still playing in the highest series in 2011.
For this season AIK also recruited Mohammeds best friend, Ibrahim Tetteh Bangura (They share last name by coincidence), from the same division 1 team as Mohammed. Tetteh, as he is called, scored 15 goals in 17 games before he was sold to the Turkish team Bursaspor in the biggest deal ever for AIK. Tetteh would never have had the success he had in AIK, if it hadn't been for Mohammed, who set him up for most of the goals he scored.
Mohammed is a fantastic offensive player who I am sure will grow to be one of the best, good luck to him in the future. And congratulations to Celtic on a great player!
My concern now is if AIK will be able to stay in third place with our best player gone. We have 5 points down to fourth place, with 7 games left. All i can say is that it's going to be a VERY exciting fall, probably to exciting for my taste...
For this season AIK also recruited Mohammeds best friend, Ibrahim Tetteh Bangura (They share last name by coincidence), from the same division 1 team as Mohammed. Tetteh, as he is called, scored 15 goals in 17 games before he was sold to the Turkish team Bursaspor in the biggest deal ever for AIK. Tetteh would never have had the success he had in AIK, if it hadn't been for Mohammed, who set him up for most of the goals he scored.
Mohammed is a fantastic offensive player who I am sure will grow to be one of the best, good luck to him in the future. And congratulations to Celtic on a great player!
My concern now is if AIK will be able to stay in third place with our best player gone. We have 5 points down to fourth place, with 7 games left. All i can say is that it's going to be a VERY exciting fall, probably to exciting for my taste...
Monday 29 August 2011
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.
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.
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