Hockey Night In Stockholm

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$1 = 8.6981 SEK

The Globen Arena in Stockholm

(The world's largest spherical building but not where we watched the game)

Sorry for not getting this up sooner but I've been battling a cold the last couple days.  Last Thursday we went with a couple friends to a hockey game down in Stockholm.  Our first Swedish hockey game was a between Djurgården (a Stockholm club and home team as well as one of the clubs that the 86'ers played against this past season as our astute readers will no doubt realize) and Färjestad who was the top team in the league coming into the game.  

Now we've only been to a couple hockey games in the US, both minor league hockey games in Spokane and Boise, but it seems like the games are more of an event here, more like college football maybe.  Here are fans waving flags with the Djurgården colors.  These folks are more of the classy supporters with the nicer, more expensive seats along the side of the rink.  We sat in the end near the more rowdy supporters who were calling the flag-waving supports "peasent mother f^%#ers" before the game.  You stay classy Stockholm.

One thing people may notice about these pictures is the amount of sponsers on the uniforms.  This is really common here in Sweden to have like 50 sponsers logos on uniforms and a stark contrast to sport uniforms in the states (aside from soccer and Little League).  In addition there are logos on the ice surface in addition to along the boards.  So that's different to.  It's hard to tell in the above picture but the player names are in yellow below the numbers on the Djurgården uniforms.  Above the numbers is the sponsor logo for Bauhaus which is the equivalent of Home Depot here in Sweden (I think they are a German company).

Now it was hard for me to root for Djurgården since we played them in football but they did have an American on the team.  The little guy on the left is #4 in your program and #1 in your heart - David Schneider.  He's a defenseman that even had a goal on the night.  So good for him. 

We have a keeper down!!!

This thing is the Djurgården mascot.  Some sort of rabbit/dog/wolf thing with a hockey helmet and ninja-like quickness in it's hands.  Even with ninja hands it's pretty lame.  Doesn't even do anything, just kind of walks around.  This guy ain't got nothin' on Butch.

This picture is here so you can see that the photographers in the background have to wear helmets if they are going to sit rinkside.  However the coach/trainer guy to their left does not have to wear a helmet. Interesting...

It ended up being a pretty good game in the end but it started ugly.  Färjestad was up 4-0 in the first 5 minutes of the third period.  Djurgården came back in the third though with three goals and a frantic last few minutes but they just couldn't get it done and lost 4-3.  Like I said before Färjestad is at the top of the league and Djurgården is in the lower third so the result was not unexpected but it was fun either way.  Our friend Andreas above in a Djurgården sweater was took the loss a little harder than the rest of us.  Poor guy.

For our entertainment we got to watch some peewee hockey between the first and second periods.  It was fun to watch and there were even a couple girls on the teams. So there you go.

This sign was found on an overpass after leaving the subway station and heading to the areana. Basically it says: "This way for a restroom don't pee here."

Below is a random video taken from the hockey game that shows our enthusiasm early.  Best. Camera. Work. Ever. Enjoy.