Wednesday, December 30, 2015

NYT Features Swedes in NCAA

Success of Hagelin, Nyquist and others fuels rise in Swedish players pursuing college hockey.

NYT Features Swedes in NCAA
Fans at Yost Ice Arena waved the Swedish flag in support of Carl Hagelin during his four years as a Wolverine.

The impact of Swedish players in the NCAA ranks is at an all-time high, and the New York Times featured that trend in a story Wednesday by Julie Robenhymer:

“Forty years ago,” Robenhymer writes, “Anders Carlsson was believed to be the first Swede to play college hockey in the United States when he suited up for Yale. Since then, there have been 111 Swedish hockey players in the N.C.A.A., and about 20 percent of them — 23 — are currently enrolled.”

Robenhymer is covering the World Junior Championship in Finland, where Boston University’s Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson and Massachusetts’ William Lagesson helped Sweden finish first in Group A. It’s the first time two NCAA players have represented Sweden in the tournament, but the third and fourth players to do so in the last three years.

Follow the leader

They are led by head coach Rikard Gronborg, himself a former college hockey player who has undergraduate and master’s degrees from St. Cloud State.

“I did it myself, so I think it’s “It’s a pretty good path for some guys to take,” said Gronborg. “I definitely think college hockey is a good way to develop your on-ice skills, but also — as a person — to be able to get an education at the same time.”

Swedes can be especially well suited to play college hockey because the country’s education system is excellent and includes English classes from a young age. But while academic eligibility may not be an issue, amateurism can be – the Swedish system of hockey development can often place junior players on teams with professionals, potentially jeopardizing

Many Swedish players play junior hockey in the U.S. prior to enrolling in college. Forsbacka-Karlsson spent two years with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, while Lagesson played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the same league last season.

According to hockey research and technology company HockeyTech, there are 21 Swedish players currently in the USHL and NAHL, many of whom have already committed to Division I schools.

Sources of inspiration

All of these players are following the lead of players like Cornell grad Douglas Murray – the first Swedish-born player to play in the NCAA and the NHL – as well as former Maine star Gustav Nyquist and Michigan’s Carl Hagelin. As Robenhymer reports:

Players like Hagelin, now with the Anaheim Ducks, and the Detroit Red Wings’ Gustav Nyquist, who starred at Maine, took a risk choosing the N.C.A.A. route, but they reached the N.H.L. in their first professional season and played on the 2014 Olympic team that won the silver medal. They have inspired more players in Sweden to take the same path.

“When you see guys going through college hockey and becoming top players in the N.H.L., it helps convince your parents, but also helps convince yourself that this is a good way to go,” said Forsbacka-Karlsson, a second-round draft pick by the Boston Bruins last summer.

Lagesson, a fourth-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in 2014, said: “Players like Hagelin and Nyquist have shown that it’s a good way to get to the N.H.L. More and more players are doing this, and it’s been a great experience — learning a new language, seeing a new country, experiencing a new culture — all while getting a great education and playing hockey at a high level. It was an easy decision for me to make.”

Read Robenhymer’s full story here.