This just in: Blues/Peoria goalie prospect Big Ben Bishop is a Senator. Perhaps a trade was inevitable. Good return? Not? Will this screw with Peoria's playoff chances? Fill the comments.

Found this article about Steen today. It's from a local paper in Örnsköldsvik, the town in northern Sweden where he lives during the summers. Peter Forsberg, Marcus Näslund, Victor Hedman and the Sedins (amongst many others) are from there, as is the Swedish Elite League team MoDo, with whom Steen trains during the off-season. Thought it might be interesting for you non-Swedish speaking people, too. Translation's all mine. Original here (in Swedish). You better enjoy it, took me forever to get it finished (screaming three-week-old wasn't helping...).


GANG VIOLENCE ORDINARY FOR STEEN IN ST. LOUIS

Alexander Steen spends his summer at home in Örnsköldsvik relaxing.
It's needed. Besides being a hockey player in the worlds toughest league, he lives in one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. -- with tornadoes, gang violence and abused fight dogs almost being ordinary things.
- You get to see horrible things. You hear gunfire every night.

Alexander Steen has just finished his third on-ice training day when we meet him for a cup of coffee, a cup that soon turns into two and three during a open-hearted conversation. For Alexander Steen Örnsköldsvik is home, despite the fact that he didn't move here until he was 20 years old. It's a home that differs drastically from his home during the winter months -- St. Louis. A city that ranks as one of the more dangerous cities in the U.S.
- St. Louis is among the top 3 or 4 most dangerous cities in the U.S. Sick stuff happens all the time. Dave Scatchard, a team mate, was going for take-out after a game and he saw someone get stabbed. There's alot of crap like that going on, feels like you hear gunfire every night.

Alexander Steen gets to experience the brutality first hand.
- I have a friend over there who works with rescuing stray dogs, and I've tagged along. Some people breed dogs to fight and when they lose they just let them loose on the streets. We go out and bring dogs like that to animal protection organizations, make sure that they're healthy and uninjured.
- You get to see horrible things. Stabbed dogs. When dogs run through some peoples lots they shoot at them. One dog we brought in had three bullets in his hind legs, and on another one someone had cut of the hind paws. It's really disgusting, so you could say that that side of town is a little bit dangerous.

But it's not only criminality that makes St. Louis a dangerous place to live. During the spring tornadoes are common and this year the storms reached record levels.
- You ran down to the basement at least one's-a-week for awhile. I underestimated the storms at first and thought that it wasn't something I'd have to bother with where I live. Then the Joplin tornado came and destroyed a whole town and killed 150 to 200 people. I've got more respect for it now, so when you hear the warning sirens nowadays you immediately run down to the basement.

Despite all of this Alexander Steen enjoys living in St. Louis. He lives in the western part of the city, where crime isn't as common, and when there's no storms the weather is pleasant with Swedish summer weather already in February.
- You try to avoid the bad side, and aside from that it's a great city -- it's large enough so there's always stuff to do, but it's kinda laid back and the traffic ain't that bad. I can't stand spending an hour and a half in the car like you always has to in Toronto.

The St. Louis Blues were a hot ticket last season, and the year before that only a handful of games weren't sold out, despite the fact that the team has missed the playoffs for two straight seasons.
- We have a very young team and haven't been able to get over that last hurdle. But it really feels like we have something good going.
Alexander Steen is an important piece in a team with loads of young talent like David Perron, Alex Pietrangelo, T.J. Oshie, David Backes, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund. Steen, who's an assistant captain, had the third most ice-time amongst the teams forwards and his 51 points was fourth best on the team last season.
- It's been very good playing here. I have a more offensive role and for example play as a defender on the power play. All of that's been a blast. But I also take alot of pride in everything else I do on the ice, defensively, to go up against the other team's best players, like the Sedins for example.

As a parent to small children it's not only on the ice that Alexander Steen has to be responsible.
- Being a dad is awesome. I have two great boys, they're calm and funny. Two completely different personalities. The oldest one isn't that into sports, but the younger one has almost gotten him interested. He used to not care for it at all. I took him out to the driveway to play some hockey but after four minutes he was bored and went back in. But we've been lucky, they haven't had many problems and have been healthy.

Alexander Steen knows better than most that children's health should never be taken for granted. His little brother Amadeus passed away before he even got to celebrate his first birthday.
- I was six and remember some things but not how sick he was. You think about it now and again, what kind of person he'd be. He would have been 21 now and I often think about if we would've spent much time together and so on. His name lives on through the foundation we've started. (http://www.amadeussteenfoundation.com)

Our time is running out. Alexander Steen grins when we start to talk about the yearly soccer game him and his buddy's, including hockey players Victor and Oscar Hedman, Michal Zajkowski and Tobias Viklund, plays against a team of former soccer players.
- It started as just a fun thing but have gotten totally out of control. We have new jersey's every year, a trophy, we pick a MVP, have an awards ceremony. People actually decides when to take their vacation because of the game so they won't miss it, it's really fun. We lost terribly the first year, but we've won it four years in a row now. I've scored a goal every year, and last year was the first time I played as a forward.

This fall the hunt for another trophy begins.
- We've kept the core and added some veterans who've won before. It feels like we have a real team now, and we're really close to become a really, really good team.

Someone's had one to many Christmas  schnapps it seems. Here's your Gameday thread. Treat it like Reaves treats this dork.

LET'S GO BLUES!

Attention ladies and gentlemen!

Just heard there's no TV for Tuesday's Blues game against the Thrashers. That sucks balls.

Well, If you still need your hockey fix, there's an exhibition game between Sweden's and Canada's junior squads, streamed live over the interwebz by Swedish Television.

That's Sebastian Wännström vs Jaden Schwarz on your monitor tonight at 6.15 St Louis time.

UPDATE: Here's the direct link. Enjoy!

Again, the stream starts Tuesday at 6.15. And yes, commentating will be in Swedish.

Top ten agitators/pests in league history. Why do I want to punch someone on the face after watching these? The first one kinda involves the Blues. Sorta.

Man, can the season start already?

No 1:

No 2:

Oh, and FUCK Detroit.

So, friends. Wanna learn Swedish? What do you mean, no??! Fan ta you, stupid Americanos. And here I am bringing you the perfect opportunity to increase you vocabulary. Just listen to Patrik Berglund as you read my little translation of an interview made in early June, below. Don't just listen. It's a video, and, like all Swede's, Patrik's one handsome S.O.B. You're welcome, ladies.

Anyhooo, it's nothing special or revolutionary, just thought I'd share.

LINK

Reporter: So, Patrik Berglund, how does it feel being home in Västerås again?
Berglund: Uhm, feels very good, of course. It's always fun to come home and meet friends and family. So, I have to say, it's nice to be home for a while.
Reporter: And what are your plans for the summer here in town?
Berglund: Well, I won't stay too long, I'm off again on July first, I think. So it's only for a month, not even that long actually. Mostly, I'll be working out, keeping things going. No real vacation or anything, that's past already. Just hang around, spend some time with friends and my family, I'll just try to make the most of my time here.
Reporter: You have played two NHL seasons with St Louis now. First season was a success, the second one was... O.K. What have you learned these past two years?
Berglund: I think I've learned alot. After my first season in the NHL, I basically think my career was heading straight up. I never really had to experience any setbacks and so on. And then the next year, I think it's a good thing I got to... It wasn't any fun at all when I was way down in the pit, but, I really got to taste adversity the first half of the season, and that was really hard, of course. I never got my game going, I was a healthy scratch a couple of times, and that stung pretty much at the time. But then I really feel I got going a little more at the end of the season, and then you start thinking that it's probably a good thing that I've had a taste of both adversity and success -- that can make you a stronger player.
Reporter: And now you've started developing yourself even more with your training, if I understand things correctly. What changes have you made to your training?
Berglund: Well, it's really not that big of a change. I've gotten a different training program from St Louis, which I'm following. We're doing things in phases, one phase per month, so it's four different training phases during the summer. It's really not that big of a difference, but I've planned alot of extra sessions for myself, which hopefully will develop me even further and prepare me for the coming season.
Reporter: Per Mårts is the new coach for Tre Kronor (the Swedish national team), he has a good eye for you. If he comes calling and you feel healthy, will you come and play for the national team?
Berglund: Absolutely. I think I will always say yes to play for Tre Kronor, if I'm healthy and fresh, That's something everybody wants, I think. So of course, I'd love to represent my country again.

That's all. Now I'm hungry.

Here in Sweden, reports about Jonas Junland returning to Swedish hockey is not focused on him leaving North America, it's about what team he's signed on with. Farjestads BK, with whom Jonas has signed $330 000/1 year contract (these are my own calculations, based on a report that Junland would be paid 200 000 Swedish kronor/month in Farjestad, so this could be inacurate, don't know if there was any sign-on bonus, but there probably was), is the most successful Swedish hockey team in recent years. They always put a competitive team on the ice and is generally a very well respected team. A good team to play for, especially since they're in need of a player like Jonas Junland and he'll get significant ice time in crucial situations.

Sounds good, no? So why the controversy? Well, Jonas is a product of Linkopings HC, the only team he's ever played for over here, both in juniors and seniors. LHC is also a top tier team in the Swedish Elite League, and they claim that they were ready to offer Jonas as much as or more than any other team in the league. Over here, where you've played before means alot, especially for the fans. Here's an article from today's issue of Aftonbladet, Swedens biggest newspaper. My own translation, of course.

LINK (Swedish)

Junland threatened after Linkopings protest
Jonas Junland rejected his motherclub to play for Farjestad.

LHC protest against his choice in a letter published on their website and the 22-year old has recieved several threats from enraged fans.
--People don't think that I should be able to walk the streets safely any more, Junland says.

Jonas Junland has played for Linkoping since he was a child. The news about him chosing to play for the rival Farjestad after a couple of failed years in the NHL therefore came as a total surprise.

Linkoping management decided to put up extra resources to get Junland home, and to match any and every Swedish bids on the defenseman. Despite that, Junland chose Farestad and his motherclub is now very upset.
"This situation is new for LHC and we are well aware of the fact that there could be other reasons than economic ones volved, but what's absolutely clear is that we in Linkopings Hockey Club are very dissapointed in Jonas Junlands choice of club." the team writes on their web site.

After the signing became public and LHC published the letter Jonas Junland has recieved several threats.
--I have gotten a message here and tere, but that's what you can expect when you make controversial decisions. But there's also been some less than smart comments from people who doesn't think I should be able to walk the streets in Linkoping safely any more, Junland says.
The 22-year old also says that he thinks that LHC's letter can have fired up the feelings even more.
--I don't want to talk about Linkoping any more. They are the past and Farjestad is the future. But perhaps that letter doesn't help much.

How is your relation to LHC?
--So far it's fine. But after this, who can tell?

LHC's vice president Anders Mäki is the one who published the letter. He says that club management discussed the fact that Junland could recieve threats if and when they'd publish the letter.
--We talked about that some. But this is a new situation for us and we have to take care of the players we've developed. It's not surprisig that we feel dissapointed over his choice of club.
What's your take on the threats Jonas has recieved?
--I have no comments about that.

What everyone has failed to point out is that LHC already has a go-to guy in power play situations, Magnus Johansson, considered to be the top point man in the Swedish Elite League. Johansson plays lots of minutes, which could be a reason why Junland chose Farjestad. There, he could be the No 1 guy, and still play for a top club. I personally think that Jonas Junland, by signing with Farjestad, shows everyone that if he can't get significant NHL time, he wants to win games, and further develop his play in a top club.

Good for him.

By way of St Louis Game Time commenter ingmarWbergman, here's scans of the picture of Barrett Jackman being a tough-ass against Detroit farmhands Tomas Holmström and Johan Franzén some of you seemed to like.

Link to bigger picture.

Link to bigger and unedited picture.

Enjoy!

I'm not going to report much from the Swedish games. Gerard and DanGNR is doing such a great job at bringing you all that went down, plus with everything being written in the PD and on the Blues site etc, what's the use? I will say however that I had a blast seeing NHL-hockey in Stockholm, and it was absolutely fantastic meeting DanGNR (and wife), Gerard and ingmarWbergman. You guys make me want to go over to St Louis to experience the real deal. I'm saving up and coming over soon. Promise.

So what's on my mind? Well, as you might recall, a few weeks back I wrote about how the Blues were viewed as big underdogs by the Swedish media. And especially how Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet pictured the Globe Arena with a big Red Wing on it, and so on. Well, just to follow up, here's what the papers pages looked after the games.

After Friday's game:

"Here he ruins the party". Pauly Walnuts, party pooper.

After Saturday's game:

"The Swede Fiasco". Jackman is king in that photo.

Well, we sure showed those asshats.

It must have been in the 93-94 or 94-95 season. I was 14 or 15, up in the middle of the night watching NHL hockey live for the very first time. The Blues were playing and Brett Hull scored a hat-trick.

Brett Hull. He's the one who started it for me. I'd watched plenty of hockey already, or at least I thought I had. Tre Kronor, the Swedish National team, was successful during this time, a player called Peter Forsberg was just getting started, Mats Sundin was already a household name. I'd been to quite a few hockey games live, too. But I'd never seen anyone like Brett Hull. The speed in which he played the game, the precision and power of the shot, the killer instinct. From that day on, whenever someone would ask me what team I rooted for I'd answer with Brett's team -- the St. Louis Blues.

I admit, I didn't follow the Blues, or the NHL for that matter, all that much during my teenage years. North American hockey was cool, I saw a game now and then, sure, but c'mon, I was a teenager. Girls, rock music and getting drunk was my main interests. But hockey was always there, and it grew.

Now I'm as much a Blues fanatic as you can be. I check all the websites for updates several times a day. I constantly tell my fiancée about the team, whether she wants to hear about it or not. I sit up watching all fucking night on a Tuesday when the Blues are playing an away game in Nashville. I'm easily irritated days after a loss, I'm happy and on my game after wins. I taught my goddaughter to (almost) say "David Perron, Blues de St Louis" this summer. This team is everywhere for me.

And now they're even here, playing in the capital of my home country, against the arch rival's, the bastards, the FUCK Detroit Red Wings, with those stupid-looking farmer boys Franzén and Holmström and their equally stupid-looking fans. It's been said over and over how much red jerseys there will be in the stands in the Globe Arena tonight and tomorrow. I don't think that will be the case. The Red Wings is a popular team over here, but their fans will never be as passionate and as engaged as the Blues' fans. I'd say the audience will mostly be made out of normal Swedes. They will think that it's cool that the Red Wings and Blues is coming over, they'll be there to watch an NHL game, not a specific team. We'll see tonight if I'm right.

I'll be there, rooting the good guys on, the players I follow everyday. The awesomeness-on-skates that is David Backes, Mr Cool David Perron, Oshie with his furnace face and beautiful checks, Cam Smash Cam Bang Janssen, old man Walt, sneaky little Andy Mac and of course Pretty-boy TechnoViking Patrik Berglund and the rest.

It's Friday morning, I'm getting on the train to Stockholm in 30 minutes. For me this truly is a dream come true. And damn, this is going to be great!

Hey gang.

Found some videos that SVT (Swedish national television) made. No translations for the ones in which they speak Swedish (I'm lazy, plus it's basically just the usual blahblahblah's), but I thought it might be fun for you to see anyway. Lot's of stuff going on in the background, too.

Video 1: About Murray and Berglund. Love when the Goblin's yelling at the guys in the start of the video. "Are you guys stupid, or what?!" (In Swedish.)

Video 2: Interview w/ the coach. (In English.)

Video 3: Interview w/ Keith Tkachuk. (In English.)

Video 4: Interview w/ Alexander Steen. About three minutes in, DJ King Kong comes in view, looks stupid, then leaves. There's just something hysterically funny about those 5 seconds. (In Swedish.)

Oh, you're gonna l-o-v-e this.

Today, on my way home from work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some toilet paper food etc. As usual, I came home with lots of unnessesary items, among them a newly released hockey magazine focusing on the upcoming Swedish Elite League start, with quite a few pages on the 09-10 NHL season.

The magazine, humbly named The Hockey Bible, is released by Aftonbladet, Swedens biggest and most successful newspaper, and is a guide to everything hockey (or so they claim). I personally bought it just to have something to read on the shitter.

Anyhow, after having glanced through the Elite League pages of the magazine, I came to the good stuff: the NHL Premiere games in Stockholm between the Blues and the fuckoffs of Detroit. Well, let's just say I was not happy about how the paper's editors chose to illustrate the premiere matchup.

Continue reading this post »

Not much hockey news coming out of St. Louis (or anywhere else, really), so I thought I'd contribute a bit with a some translated stuff. Swedish sports site svenskafans.com recently published short interviews with Blues prospects Jonas Junland and Lars Eller. Both hoping to make the team out of camp. We'll see how they do in just a few weeks. In the meantime, here's something to read for us poor hockey-starved people.

Continue reading this post »

Just a note for whomever might be interested.

In about an hour, Blues rookies and former roomies T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund will square off as Team USA take on Team Sweden in the IIHF World Championships in Switzerland. Both players have apparently been trash talking, all smirks and smiles.

Some quotes:

"I'm going to run you over." -- Oshie to Iceberg

"When I get the chance, I'm going right through him." -- Berglund

Iceberg claims Oshie wants more than bodychecks. He also want to make sweet sweet looove!
"He's talking about fighting. Not the smartest thing, perhaps, but maybe something will happen after I check him."

A journalist asked him if he should'nt go after David Backes, too, while he's at it. Berglund:
"No. Backes is tough as hell, I'm staying as far away from him as possible."

Funny stuff.  I know I'll be watching.

You heard it here first, folks. Our very own, incredibly handsome, newly cropped, rookie stud Patrik Berglund has gotten a ticket to Switzerland, and will suit up for the Swedish National Team in this year's World Championships. He crosses the Atlantic on a flight that left Lambert Int. at 8 a.m. this morning.
-- We have a good shot at going far, Berglund said to Swedish newspaper Expressen.

When Berglund woke up on Wednesday morning, a text-message had been sent to his cellphone.
-- It was Bengan (Team Sweden coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson) asking me to call him as soon as possible. Then when I spoke to him he said he wanted me to come over. I had a short discussion with our GM, Larry Pleau, and he told me to go for it.

Gustafsson had this to say about TechoViking:
-- What's most impressing about his stats is his plus/minus. On a team where two thirds of all the players have a minus record, he is plus 19. That's very strong. We´'ll have to wait and see where and with whom we'll play him. I usually have lots of centermen on my teams, so that's no big deal.

Bengt-Åke Gustafsson also tried to bring in the Blues' other Swedish forward, Alex Steen, but Steen turned the offer down, referring to "family issues".
-- Bengt-Åke was very understanding. I'm hoping to take part the next time I get asked, Steen said. He also had some nice things to say about Mr IceBerg:
-- Patrik will bring lots to the World Champinships Team. He has a very hard and fast shot and is a good two-way centerman. He'll be a great reinforcement.

When asked about what he brings to the table, Berglund told the paper:
-- I'm very excited about playing in the World Championships. How many goals I can contribute with, I have no idea, I'll just go in there and play my best.
Are you familiar with the team?
-- I looked it up online.
Who do you think you'll line up with?
-- No idea. I just want to go, play and do a good job for Sweden.

Also, as pointed out by the Prof, David Backes and T.J. Oshie will play for team USA in Switzerland. Every opposing player should be well advised to keep their heads up.

Finally a good reason to follow that sorry excuse of a tournament.

So they're saying Kariya will definitely play?

According to an article in the Swedish news paper Östgöta Correspondenten, the Blues will play an exhibition game against top Swedish team Linköping HC on September 29.

"This is huge for Linköping, Östergötland (the "county"), and Swedish hockey. And perhaps it will give us some insight about the future for club hockey", says Linköping HC President Christer Mård.

Hopefully playing for the Blues on this night is Jonas Junland (currently in Peoria), who just last season was a key defenseman for Linköping. In fact, Junland is born and raised in Linköping, a town about 80 miles south west from the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

This season, Linköping HC finished the regular season with the Swedish Elite League's second best record. It's considered one of the absolute top teams in the country.

On the Linköping HC-website, General Manager Mike Helber is very excited: "It's for real! Something that could only be dreamed about 15 years ago, a team from the top hockey league in the World, NHL, will play in Linköping! Now our fans will get to experience what it's like when their favorite team is going head-to-head with them!"

As we all know, a few days later the Blues will open the 09-10 NHL regular season against the lowly (fuck) Detroit Red Wings in Stockholm.

According to this article on the Achorage Daily News site, Blues prospect and former first round draft pick Marek Schwarz has had quite enough of freezing his ass off while playing in Alaska. He has decided to flee home to his native Czech Republic.

Schwarz played in 5 games for the Aces this season, recording a .904 save percentage and a 3.15 GAA. He also played 10 games for the Rivermern, recording a horrid .869 save percentage and a 3.56 GAA.

Also, somewhere in the world, while reading the above mentioned article, someone uttered the word "asshat".