One of the most unique things about the Minneapolis Storm hockey association is that in addition to providing a quality hockey program - we provide a quality cultural experience for our kids. Through over 30 years of building relationships with friends in Sweden...we can provide our kids with an opportunity to learn about another culture. We do this through the Swedish sport of Bandy....or Russian Hockey. The Storm run the Bandy Camp in the summer (which over 140 kids participate in) where we fly in Swedish coaches, we have Friday Night Lights for our Mite/8U players at the John Rose Oval, and an optional Sunday Night 13U and 10U bandy league.

....but probably the most exciting thing is the trip we take every two years to Vasteras, Sweden to play hockey and bandy....and develop lifelong friends from Sweden. Below is our Sweden Trip Blog. Enjoy following us as we partake on this journey...

Part of the cultural experience for the kids on the trip is to spend a half day at a Swedish school with their Swedish peers. We drove about ten minutes outside of Vasteras to the small community of Irsta. Though the community is small, the school isn't – having 750 students ranging from the ages of 5 to 16 years old. Some of the kids bandy friends – Anton, Mattias,Oliver, and were our leaders for the day and the kids were divided into four groups. The some kids would go to Math and Spanish classes, Math and trGerman classes, and one group would get to go to workshop classes where they would be shown how to make wooden spoons. The experience allowed them to see where the Swedish students were at and how their classrooms operate. The kids were slightly surprised to see the Swedish kids utilizing their laptops to watch videos during class and also texting friends with their phones during class. Something they probably wouldn't get away with here (one of our kids said if they got caught in class using their cell phone their teacher would wrap it with paper and then take a whole roll of duct tape and wrap the phone into one big duct tape ball that they could pick up at the end of the school day!). While clueless for the most part in the Spanish and German classes, our kids thought they were a bit ahead in mathmatics.

From  the school our kids were shuttled directly to ABB Arena for their final skate of the week. Anton Wingard and Oliver Abrahamsson would lead the practice. Both 15 years old, they did a fabulous job keeping our kids going from drill to drill. A good way to end the week of bandy.

We would stay at the rink after the practice.....Niklas Lidstrom –  among the best, if not the best NHL defenseman of all time was on his way to the rink to meet with our kids. Lidstrom, who retired two years ago, has three kids in the Vasteras Hockey program. He is often seen at the rink helping run practices for the kids. Today, he promised to give our kids 15 minutes for autographs and then to run off to a VIK Hockey Board Meeting.

The boys were done for the day and would head back in to Vasteras to hang out, pack for the trip home, and get their final hours in Vasteras. The girls would have one final hockey skate with the VIK girls 12U hockey team. The friendships built over the week were great and the VIK parents asked if they could bring their kids over to Minneapolis every other October when the Minneapolis Storm is not in Vasteras. The answer was 'of course',  We have always been well cared for in Vasteras and will take care of anyone that comes here. Hopefully we will see the VIK girls in later October 2015.

With the girls practice over, the trip was coming to an end. Everyone made it back to the hotel and started packing....the bus would be coming at 3:00am to pick us up to catch our flight home out of Stockholm......what a week!

Each trip, we take a ride into Stockholm to visit the Vasa Warship museum and to tour the castle grounds and surrounding gamla stan neighborhoods. The Vasa Warship was a very large oak ship from the 1600's when Sweden was the world's naval power. The ship's ballast was not engineered correctly and it sank.....only to be brought to the surface in the 1960's in near perfect condition. The museum tells about the ship, the times, and the process of preserving it. It is truly one of the best museums in the world.

Having been to the Vasa Museum on the prior four Storm trips to Sweden...I opted out and with a few other parents we walked several hundred meters to the ABBA museum.....a shrine to the Swedish super pop group of the 70's and 80's. Fun time to see the outfits and even sing a little Dancing Queen.

From there, our bus took our group over to the castle on the Stockholm island known as Gamla Stan. The castle is where Sweden's royal family lives. We were fortunate enough to show up just in time for the changing of the guard.

After the changing of the guard, the kids wandered down the road to the narrow cobblestone streets that are full of shops and restaurants. They spent two to three hours wandering the streets before working their way back to the castle and the bus to take us back to Vasteras. We could spend a week in Stockholm....but for this trip, we opt for giving kids a taste of the city and what it has to offer.

Back at the ranch in Vasteras...we had a few hours of downtime before the puck would drop for a Swedish pro league game between VIK and Sodertalje. A big thank you is due to the VIK hockey club who “comped” our kids and parents the tickets to go take in this game. We must have been good luck....the VIK team has had a tough year so far, but they were able to beat Sodertalje 3-0. Everyone thought the atmosphere was fantastic with drums, chanting, and flag waving all game long!

The kids were returned from homestays after breakfast. Their rest time would be short as they would be off to play Floorball against the Tillberga kids at the Tillberga school. Floorball is very popular throughout Europe and in Sweden there are professional leagues. A plastic whiffle ball and a floor hockey stick is what each player has. A lot of running and shooting. Anna and Stefan provided us with bakery goods from their bakery, and Maya provided our kids with grilled korvs (Swedish hot dogs). Yum.

We would head into the evening with several bandy games to be played – our girls originally had just one bandy game....but they were popular and a second one was scheduled. The first game in their double header would be against the Vasteras Bandy Klub (VSK) girls team. Now with our first game behind them, and Henrik Olsson's pregame pep talk and tactic session...our girls were a totally different team. The US National team went on to defeat VSK 3-1. But, they weren't done....the second game put them up against the Tillberga boys 2003-2004 team. Once again, they were up to the challenge and defeated the Tillberga squad in a tight 4-3 game.

The boys hit the ice immediately after. They were going to play the same team they beat the day before 10-5 and...as can be expected, they spent the earlier part of the day talking up how bad they were going to beat this team in the second match. But, the Tillberga team had a different idea. They changed their strategy....in this game they would always keep seven players back on defense and only allow their three best players to challenge for goals.....a “rope a dope” strategy that the Americans were not prepared for. As they would continue to attack 'hockey style', the seven defenders would back right back into their goalie......making it impossible to stickhandle through. In a great and humbling turnaround....the final tally would be Tillberga 4 – USA Bandy 1.

Sunday would wind down....our girls went 2-1 in bandy games (with Coach Apur Patel going 2 & 0 in his USA Bandy Coaching Debut) and our boys went 1-1.

The wake up calls came in at 6:15am. Time to get down to the hotel dining hall for another great buffet breakfast. In just over an hour our kids would be hitting the ice against the Tillberga bandy club's 2001/2002 birth year team. Our kids would find they would have a little beginner's luck....winning their first bandy game 10-5....with Jake Hale netting seven goals. A great way to star the morning.

Meanwhile, our girls met with the girls from the Sandviken bandy club – located about 1.5 hours car ride north of Vasteras. Sandviken is one of Sweden's “power clubs” in bandy – almost always having a men's team that is at or near the top of the Swedish Premier Division. At the meeting between the two teams, the girls got introduced to each other and then the leaders of both groups got up to tell about their cities, their programs, and more. The Sandviken girls train twice per week while the American girls train through the Storm 4-5 times per week. A common comment from our Swedish friends throughout the week was what great skaters our girls were.

From the arena, the Sandviken bus took our girls and the Sandviken girls over to “Aros Fortet” or Prison Island. This has always been a hit and it also always is very helpful in bringing kids from different cultures together. Prison Island has several dozen cells (rooms), each one with a different challenge that could be physical, mental, or tactical. Teams were created that put two Sandviken girls together with two of our girls....in order to solve the challenges, the girls would have to communicate with each other and work as a team to get things done.

The boys joined the group and created teams amongst themselves. A lot of fun and the two hours at Prison Island flew by.

Back to the bandy stadium...the girls would have their first match against the Sandviken girls team. It was a great battle...but the Sandviken girls took it to our girls 6-1. This game was special and newsworthy in Sandviken...it is not too often your girls get to play the United States National Bandy team! Throughout the game....a journalist from Sandviken was calling for updates. The next morning, a nice article was written on the Sandviken website about their girl's defeating the USA. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK

With the conclusion of the game, the girls would head off to a homestay overnight at VIK Ice Hockey girls homes. Earlier in the evening, the boys went to overnight homestays at the Tillberga bandy team's homes.

This left the parents not having to take care of the kids....and allowed us to go to a dinner with some of the Tillberga Bandy Club parents. These were parents that visited the USA in 2013 and their kids had attended our Bandy Camp and did weeklong homestays with Storm families during the camp. Off we hiked from our hotel....past the Vasteras Cathedral which was built in the 1500's and up some steep stairs embedded into a granite hill. At the top of the hill was a restaurant that overlooked the lights of Vasteras. It was beautiful. But, the meal that followed and the singing, toasting, and fun will never be forgotten. Crayfish skagen, Herring, cloudberries, beef filets – one smothered in Lingon Berry sauce, the other with a chanterelle mushroom sauce with a potato souffle made with Swedish cheeses. I cannot begin to describe how incredibly well put together this meal was.....as Magnus Skold – our Swedish guide stated, “Everything from the food, to the wine pairings, to the company was about as good as you would find throughout all of Sweden.” The Swedish hosts stood and sang toasting songs, and we stood and sang “Skol Vikings” back at them! Thank you to Krister, Peter, Monika, and Henrik for treating us to such an amazing and memorable evening!

Late the prior evening, I received notice that I was to be on the “Rush hour” radio show on the Vastmanland 4 Radio station. I would be picked up by “Pinno” Engstrom at 7:30am and shuttled to the station. There, we were interviewed for about 5-10 minutes regarding why we were in Vasteras. You see....what the Minneapolis Storm has developed over the last five years with Vasteras has not only provided our kids an incredible chance to learn about Sweden, but also Swedish kids the chance to also learn about us. There have also been many successes with bandy – including the Girls 17U and Boys 15U Bandy World Championships to be played in the United States....Storm kids will represent the United States vs the top players from Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Norway over the next two years!

While this is our fifth trip to Sweden, it is the first time we rented a van and the van would prove helpful in getting our group around. At noon, we began shuttling our kids to the new “ActionBad” (I think the best interpretation is “Action Bath”) called Kokpunkten. Kokpunkten is a waterpark that has been built in an old steam electricity plant and it is an intense water park with all sorts of crazy water slides and other attractions. Eight stories tall...it provided the kids with a fun afternoon.

In the evening there would be lots of skating....our boys would skate with the Vasteras Ice Hockey 14-1 and 14-2 groups. Here was a chance for our boys to see how a Swedish ice hockey practice is run and how it was different from their practices back home.

Our whole group would then conclude the evening by skating a bandy practice run by former Swedish Elite player Henrik Olsson. We were joined on the ice by a Swedish bandy club from Stockholm. This club, will be coming to the United States the third week of February 2015 to play our USA National squad (aka the Storm....) at the John Rose Oval in Roseville. With practice completed...it was time to head straight back to the hotel as it was almost 11:00pm and the boys would have their first bandy game the next morning at 7:50am.

Our morning would be quiet, a chance to get out and walk around the city of Vasteras. Vasteras is located just one hour west of Stockholm, Sweden. It is located on Lake Malaren, a lake that extends hundreds of miles inland from the Stockholm Archapegalo. This was the fifth time the Minneapolis Storm has visited Vasteras to introduce kids to Swedish culture through sports relationships that we have developed over decades with friends in Vasteras.

Vasteras is one of the few cities in Sweden that have both ice hockey and bandy played in the same town. Bandy is considered by Swedes to be a folk sport and a part of Sweden like meatballs, Volvos, and blonde hair. The sport is basically hockey with a ball....on a ice rink the size of a soccer field! The game pits teams of 11 players against each other on the “big ice”.

Just after lunch, we were greeted at the bandy rink by Thomas “Pinno” Engstrom, the Swedish National Boys 17 and under coach. He would also be joined on the rink by the Finnish National 17 and under coach, who happened to be in Vasteras with one of Finland's top mens teams, Botnia. Here the kid's got their first taste of bandy....their first practice to prepare them to play Swedish teams over the weekend.

After practice, the boys went back to the hotel, while the girls would get another hour in with the Swedish 12U Vasteras Ice Hockey Club. The VIK coaches wanted to make it fun for all of the kids and immediately divided the girls into two teams with the VIK girls. A great way to start playing with teammates from another country.

But, clearly the highlight of the day was the program in the evening provided by the Tillberga Bandy Club. We were told to meet at the Gustav Vasa statue located in the center of the Vasa Park. As we stood outside in the cool air just steps away from Lake Malaren, we were transported back over 400 years and were about to get an incredible history lesson. From behind the statue a Swedish Knight dressed in an outfit fitting for the era of Gustav Vasa  approached with a burning  torch. Once commanding our attention, he began to tell us the story of how Sweden was born on the very land we were standing on when Gustav Vasa and a group of peasants and farmers took arms up against the King of Denmark. At the time, the area fell under the Danish rule – but the taxation without representation, and a 'cleansing' of all of the provincial leaders (including Gustav Vasa's father) by the Danes (known as the "Stockholm Bloodbath") had lead the proud Swedes to stand up against the well armored Danish army.

Our guide moved us from one area to the next, describing how the battle proceeded. Where we ultimately ended up in the Vasteras Castle and learned about Gustav Vasa's rule, and also about his son's rule of Sweden subsequent to Vasa's death. We learned about King Eric's demise....to traditional Pea Soup laced with arsenic – given to him so that his younger brother could have the crown. With the conclusion of the program....what else would we do but head downstairs to a room to enjoy some pea soup and other Swedish foods!

At 10:00pm our flight took off from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. We would have a flawless and perfect day of travel, arriving in Stockholm Sweden at 4:30pm on October 15th. With 23 kids and another 25 adults and siblings, the every other year Storm Sweden Trip was on its way. At the Stockholm airport, we had two bags not make it in – Mike Woodhouse's hockey bag and Shjon & Sherri Podein's clothing. They would catch up with us the next day.

A luxury bus complete with Wi-Fi picked us up and carted us to Vasteras --- where we were about to start an unforgettable week playing bandy and hockey. We arrived at our hotel and it was time to hit the hay and get rested for the next day and the upcoming week of cultural exchange with our friends from the Tillberga Bandy Club and the Vasteras Ice Hockey Club.

Please Follow this space while we travel to Sweden for a great cultural and sports adventure.

BELOW IS THE STORM'S 2012 TRIP BLOG FROM VASTERAS SWEDEN.

It was a quiet night around the hotel on Sunday evening. Monday morning's breakfast was equally as quiet as the kids were having breakfast at their homestay families. The kids rolled in in the morning between 8 am and 9 am and it we loaded the bus to Stockholm at 9:30am.

On the trip into Stockholm we were able to find out about all of the kids days. Some stayed on farms (one that had 8,000 pigs and they got the full tour), some stayed in houses. For some of them, they experienced different foods that they don't normally have in the United States....meats and cheeses or breakfast, ketchup with spaghetti, etc. No complaints about the foods, just different....which is exactly the point of the homestays. With McDonalds and Subway a block from the hotel, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, tex mex at Swedish homes was a good change.

In Stockholm, we went to the Vasa Warship museum. A large oak ship that sank in 1628 in the Stockholm harbor. It was discovered in the 1960's and raised. For 17 years they preserved and conserved it. It now sits in a museum and is amazing. A great history lesson for the kids.

From the Vasa museum we toured a little by bus, ending up at the palace. The palace has stern faced guards at each entrance with shining bayonets. A brick "circle of friendship" on the ground stands between where one can place themselves for a photo, or, if they step inside the circle, the guards are not happy. Our kids behaved and stayed outside the circle. They tried to get the guard to smile, smirk, or do something, but he was like a statue. Reed Goldstein did beat him in a staredown.

From the palace the kids wandered into Gamla Stan - the Old Town. Four hundred year old buildings on a narrow, cobblestone road full of trinket shops, coffee shops and restaurants. While the kids wandered from shop to shop, many of the adults opted for a restaurant....salmon stuffed with gorgonzola, fish stew in a lobster sauce, chanterelle soup......yum.

Off to the rinks for a night of hockey - our oldest boys skated with the 16 Elite squad, the next group of five with their 16 squad, four of our youngest boys with the '99 squad. The girls were invited to skate with the '00 Vasteras boys team. Niklas Lidstrom's son plays on that team and it was rumored that he shows up for most practices to assist in coaching the team (which had six coaches including Niklas!). There was a Niklas Lidstrom siting and confirmation that he would be out there coaching our girls. He stopped by the locker room and introduced himself and then the girls were invited into their team locker room right before going on the ice and skating.

Meanwhile, our four youngest boys came off of the ice and they had heard the news and decided they would try to work their way into another practice in front of coach Lidstrom.....they asked and were told they could.

For those who don't know who Mr. Lidstrom is, he is aruably one of the best defensemen to play in the NHL over the last twenty years, winning many Stanley Cups for the Detroit Red Wings.

After the practice, Mr. Lidstrom came to the locker room and sat down and talked to the girls. He signed their Storm hockey jerseys and let them have their picture taken with him. A true ambassador for hockey and for the city of Vasteras....just a great guy.

Back to the hotel.....school day tomorrow where they will spend half of the day at a Swedish school.

OK, first, to all parents that are state-side.....ALL of the kids are thriving and having a great time over here. They will have a lot of good stories to tell when they get home.

Today would provide our kids with some fantastic cultural exchange opportunities.

From the hotel, the kids made the one mile walk to the Bandy stadium for our last practice. Many of their Tilberga bandy friends would join them in a practice run by Coach Henrik and Coach Pieter.

 It was a great practice and afterwards the Tilberga bandy club treated our kids to lunch at the ABB Stadium restaurant where they serve a buffet lunch of pastas, fish, salads, and more. From there, their Swedish friends joined them in a walk over to Aros Fortet.

Aros Fortet is a fantastic concept, and I could not think of a better way for kids from two different cultures to 'hit it off'. The 'Fort' has approximately thirty different rooms. Each room has a different challenge that needs to be solved - some need technique, some need physical skills, some need cognitive skills. Teams had two Americans and one Swede - our girls were joined by the Vasteras girls hockey players. The teams are entered on a scoreboard and each time they successfully beat a challenge, their points are added to their total on the scoreboard. By day, this facility is used for corporate team building, by evening and weekends it is used by sports teams and birthday parties....we need one of these places in Minneapolis!

Because directions were in Swedish, the Swedish kids could work on their english - helping their American teammates understand what each challenge was and how to solve it. After two hours, an exhausted and happy group of kids - now closer friends - left Aros Fortet.

Back to the hotel ---- an hour of downtime and then it was time for homestays. This is our first trip for homestays.....allowing our kids to have a night over at a Swedish home to learn more about Swedish life. As the Swedish families showed up at the hotel to pick the kids up at 5pm, there were Swedish/American high fives  in the lobby and excitement that they would be able to spend a night at their friend's home. My next blog post will detail how the kids nights went.....as they will be dropped off at 8:30 in the morning and on our drive to Stockholm we will bring each group of kids up to the front of the bus to tell everyone about their experience.

For parents....freedom.....as a group, we went down to Lake Malaren to a very nice restaurant called Pier No. 9. Dinner was very good - fish roe, Royal Deer, croquettes with chanterelle mushrooms, chocolate mousse, and more. A high end Swedish dinner and evening recapping events of the last several days!

It was show time. After two practices, the American squad was prepped and primed to take on the Swedish bandy nation in two games - the morning tilt would put us up against Stockholm's GT-76 1999 squad - the afternoon game would pit us against our hosts, the Tillberga Bandy squad.

The USA National Junior team was worried about whether they were going to be killed or not. Our big advantage was going to turn out to be that our kids are very, very good skaters. After our practice on Friday, Coach Henrik was amazed by the high level of skating skill our girls possessed. He stated we should enter them in the 17 and under World Championships, as he thought we would do very well. Maybe in a few years, as our girls on the trip are currently 11 - 14 years old.

The ball dropped and the game was on versus the Stockholm squad. Their jerseys in yellow were a nice and very cool look - and allowed for an excellent contrast to our teams USA National Junior Team jerseys.

ABB Stadium was quiet and intense as the two teams battled back and forth for the first five to ten minutes.....but then it was all USA  and we skated to a 9-1 victory. Our two youngest players, Sean Patton and Lucy Kiernat netted two goals each in the victory.

The afternoon game would be much more difficult - the Tillberga squad beat GT-76 13-0 in a game....meaning the final match up of the day would be an exciting was. The game lived up to its billing - with the score going back and forth before the the National team broke open the scoring and went ahead by a couple of goals. The final was a 7-5 barn burner that left the USA National team undefeated on their trip.

The team ran to the locker room, got their equipment off, and ran over to the hockey stadium which was located right next to the bandy stadium. The Vasteras professional team was dropping the puck against Karlskrona. Our seats were standing room seats located next to the Hooligan section. The kids got to see something they never would see at an NHL game ---- singing, clapping, drumming, flag waving, fans constantly cheering for the hometown team. The game went to 5-0 in the first fifteen minutes - with the Karlskrona goalie literally begging his coach to pull him out of the game after each goal....the coach finally did after the fifth. It was also an opportunity for the kids to see several NHL players - as due to the lockout, many are playing in the Swedish league. Rumor around the rink was that Minnesota's TJ Oshie may be signing a contract soon to play for the Vasteras team.

Back to the hotel and to bed for the kids. The Tillberga coaches took several of the parents out to see Vasteras at night. An evening to remember!

I apologize for my delay in getting this blog post up....we have been very, very busy and time to post has been little..busy kids = happy kids.

Our day was well planned out for our kids to get adjusted to the Swedish time schedules. As each kid made it down to our amazing breakfast buffet, the consensus was pretty unanimous - it was the best night of sleep they have ever had.

Bandy practice was at a later time in the morning allowing them to sleep in a little bit and begin training for their big matches on Saturday. 'Coach Henrik' showed up to teach the kids how to shoot and how to work with each other to move the bandy ball up the ice. In bandy, you must move the ball with your teammates using the whole ice rink - which, by the way is the size of a Soccer field! Moving the ball side to side through drop passes and weaving is the best way to make it all of the way up the field. Henrik's daughter, Victoria, and another Tillberga player, Anton, helped our team out also by demonstrating drills. They were able to get a pass from their school to help us as it was an opportunity to work on English - a subject that they are both taking in school.

Few people know this about bandy, but bandy is the reason why the Soviet Union was the greatest hockey power for decades. In the early '60's, the Soviet Union entered their first team into the ice hockey World Championships. They dominated. Olympics and World Championships would be theirs....taken almost at will for decades. The hockey world wondered how could they just show up and be so good? The answer was simple, their players were all taken from their top bandy teams and converted into ice hockey players. They could skate better than the hockey players, they moved the puck in a totally different way than other teams - focusing on weaving and possession over getting the puck to the net as fast as possible. Thus, when you hear people exclaim about the "European Style" the Soviets created, they can thank the game of bandy - which draws crowds of 25,000 and more in Russia - even in temperatures in the minus twenties to thirties.

Enough on bandy history.....the afternoon was off from activity. The kids were free to choose where they wanted to eat and the wandered the downtown area of Vasteras- spending a considerable amount of time in the InterSport shop buying floorball sticks, skate guards, and other items.

In the evening, the Tillberga families hosted a dinner which included a floorball tournament and swimming. The floorball tournament had teams set up made up of Swedes and Americans - allowing our kids their first cross culture experience. They had a blast and two hours later, a champion was crowned - the team was one with only one Swede and five Americans.....not bad for their first time playing floorball!

A fantastic dinner of Swedish meatballs, salad, and mashed potatoes was served. One of the Swedish mothers owns three bakeries in Vasteras....so there were excellent pastries.

As dinner was finishing, four Americans were called into another room - Erin Patton, Alex Gaffney, Elliot Dorow Hovland, and Reed Goldstein were interviewed by a local cable program (thank Wayne's World in Sweden). They were asked many questions regarding our trip and what they liked so far in Sweden. We'll post a link when we get one.

From there, they went swimming while the parents met with the Swedish parents. In August, 2013, the 1999 Tillberga boys team will be coming to Minneapolis to participate in the Swedish American Bandy camp and parents wanted to ask questions about Minneapolis and the camp as they prepare.

The Minneapolis Storm once again is bringing a group to Vasteras, Sweden for a week of culture, bandy and hockey. Twenty-two Storm players and 15 of their parents are making the journey this year.

October 17th - The hardest part of these trips is the first day of travel and then the first day in Vasteras. We arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 9:00am and took off at 11:00am. Everyone made it! After a plane change in Chicago, we arrived in Stockholm, Sweden at 7:00am local time....a long time travelling. Where it always gets hard is that for those who can sleep on planes, they maybe are lucky to get a couple of hours of sleep. Once we are in Sweden, the day is just starting and we have a full day of activity....with only a few hours of sleep in the prior twenty four hours.

As tradition on these trips goes....Upon our arrival at the Stockholm Airport (Arlanda) we stopped by the large picture on the wall of Swedish hockey legend Borge Salming for a group photo.

October 18th - From the Stockholm airport we loaded up our luxury bus....which included Wi-Fi so that kids could let friends and parents know they had made it to Sweden. An hour and a half bus ride brought us to Vasteras where most of us were able to get an early check-in (check in in Sweden is typically 3:00pm, we made it to our hotel at 10:30am). Folks then wandered to the downtown mall conveniently a few hundred yards from our hotel. They took in lunch before we made the mile walk to the bandy rink.

At the bandy rink we got ready for our first afternoon practice. It was a good time to get the blood flowing after a lot of travel. Kids had fun and then we returned to the hotel for dinner. About nine of our boys walked back to the rink for dryland and skating. They were beat before the skate - living on two hours of sleep in the last 36 hours, but they had a great, high energy practice run by the Swedes.

The Swedes hockey practices are very well run, three stations for the first half hour kept the almost 40 kids on the ice constantly in motion. The last half of practice  was full ice drills. At the end, I asked the boys who attended if it was worth it, and though exhausted they said 'absolutely'.

Rumor has it that those that hadn't made it to the evening skate were in bed by 7:00pm. It is like someone has put crazy glue on your pillow....once your head hits it you can't get it off the pillow.

All for now. Pictures should be up later today.

All Blog posts below are from our prior trips (2010, 2008, etc.)

Daybreak brought wake up calls for all of our troops. It was time to head off to the small Swedish town of Tillberga to visit the school and friends they had made on the hockey and bandy rinks....as well as some new friends. Three years ago, when the Storm made this same trip to Sweden, my son commented that going to the Swedish school was by far his favorite moment of the whole trip. Seeing the classrooms, how the teachers and kids worked together, and the girls was a highlight.

From our hotel, Tillberga was about a fifteen minute drive. Thomas Engstrom and a Swedish mother assisted with driving our kids out there. I stole David Warner's car for the morning and carried the additional kids to the school.

We got a quick tour of the athletic facility located at the school. A pool, some pool tables, ping pong, etc. All just run of the mill stuff until we wandered into the gymnasium where there was a badmitton game going on with eight Swedish girls (all of whom were tall, blond haired gals). Our oldest guys on the trip were told by our guide that they should close their mouths as they were all wide open with jaws dropped!

We went into the school building and our kids were split up - the youngest going with their 7th grade classes and our oldest being split amoung the 8th grade (14 yr olds) classes. The younger boys found themselves in a cooking home economics class, while the girls were in geometry. The older boys appeared to draw a straight flush....a home economics class (called "Textiles") where the whole class was girls working on embroidery. Needless to say, no embroidery was done at class as the girls chatted with our kids.

The kids attended many classes...woodworking, English, etc. The younger kids even got a half hour recess where they got to play games and hang out with their new friends. After classes, our kids got to experience Swedish School Lunch.

A few of the older guys asked if they could stay all day as there were many girls interested in working on their English. Sorry....we were on a schedule and had to leave. In the end, the kids all added dozens of Facebook friends with this visit.

Back to the rink...a bandy practice/scrimmage. Uneventful, but fun.  Both the Tillberga Bandy Club and Vasteras Ice Hockey Club opened up their souvenir shops and our kids got to shop and get some cool looking jerseys, tshirts, hoodys, and sweatshirts.

Into the evening, most of the kids again were shuttled to Tillberga to enjoy a traditional Swedish sandwich cake and swim at the pool and play innebandy. Tillberga families were also present and it was a nice way to cap the evening.

The girls were a different story. They skated tonight with the Vasteras Womens' team. When they had gotten to the rink, they had done a prepractice warm-up with the 12U girls from Vasteras. Then, they put their gear on with the girls and formed a relationship with them. They skated the first half of the practice with the women's team and were very challenged by the older women. Half way through, they committed to the option that had been offered that they could walk 50 yards to the next rink and skate with their 12U buddies. They had a great time, lots of high fives and new friends.

Magnus Skold and I had our traditional last night out feast. My menu included a crayfish appetizer (excellent!), Halibut with lobster sauce (very good), and vanilla ice cream with a cloudberry sauce....(very yummy). An incredible dinner.

Magnus and I agreed that of our three trips, this was probably the best. Kids got to grow worldwide friendships and learn about different cultures; while parents got to go to Stockholm and shop in Vasteras. Most importantly, was the execution by the Vasteras and Tillberga parents and coaches to create a special experience for our kids. It was truly a great time had by all. A big thanks to all in Vasteras and Tillberga for that they have done for our kids.

With that said, I have been approached by several bandy and hockey coaches and parents in Vasteras that would like to reciprocate. All of them want to come to the United States to play. While I will reach out to those families on the trip for help...I also ask members of the Storm to be supportive in the future. There are no hockey associations in Minnesota that can offer cultural opportunities and exchanges like we have built with the Storm and the youth sports organizations in Vasteras. We can build some great things in the future if we work hard and support our Swedish friends like they have supported us on this trip.

Good night....early wakeup call and flight back to the states tomorrow morning!

I'll admit it....I got up in the middle of the night; fire up the 'puter, and watched the Vikings on myP2P.eu (a European website that posts streamed broadcasts of all sorts of sports events). Unfortunately, when I really needed sleep....I chose to watch a game that I hoped the Vikes would pull out. They didn't.

So, just three hours later, it was time to get out of the sack and get ready for our day in Stockholm. Our itinerary in Stockholm was the same one that has been so successful on past trips:

Leave hotel at 9:30am

Arrive in Stockholm at 11:00am

Go to the Vasa Museum 11:00am - 12:30pm

Cruise to the Palace (12:30)

Have lunch and wander shops and trinket places in Gamla Stan (the Old Town) (1:30 - 3:30)

Return to Vasteras (3:30 - 5:00pm)

The Vasa Museum never disappoints. This was my third time to it and I never tire of visiting it. The story behind the ship that sank in the early 1600's in the Stockholm harbor being raised in the 1960's....333 years after it sank...Because of the cold water, lack of salt, and lack of wood eating worms in the water, the recovered ship looks almost as it did that fateful day when the sails were set and it tipped over and sank to the bottom of the sea.

I was really impressed with many of our kids: Dylan Rallis, Reed Goldstein, Foss Kerker, Ben Neal, and others partook in the English tour that explained many little trivia facts regarding the greatest warship of its time and its fateful journey. The whole team also took in the 25 minute movie that explained the times of the Vasa Ship as well as the process of recovering the ship and preserving it in this museum. This is probably one of the greatest museums in the world and anyone visiting Stockholm should place it #1 on their list of things to see.

From the museum we wandered over to Stockholm's old town. A gorgeous old cobblestone 'village' filled with shops an restaurants. In the summer, this area is wall to wall people. For us today it was very quiet and did not have the hordes that are crazy in the summer. Our Bantams - Cris Grassel, Evan Winter, Simon Bergford, Rory Taylor, and Owen Larson - took off towards the Parliament Building and Sweden's largest department store. Somewhere out there they found food. For the rest of us, kids needed to hang with a parent/guardian, and find food and cruise Gamla Stan - which is full of buildings and churches that are 400-500 years old. A great road trip that allowed the kids to experience one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I hope they come back some day and spend several days touring the city and museums.

In past years, the bus ride back to Vasteras has had  busload of kids catching ZZZ's. Not this time....I could hear chatter almost the whole way home. There was no down time when we got to the hotel. The Bantam aged kids had to get to the rink to practice with the '97 Elite Vasteras hockey team. We got them to the rink and they were off doing pre-practice dryland training.

At the same time, we had to get the Peewee group to their rink in Raby. The Vasteras hockey parents were great, providing our kids with rides to the rink for the practice. They had a goalie practice that our kids were allowed to be shooters at and then they had a practice. Our kids had a blast and held their own against their Swedish counterparts. Many of the drills pitted players competitively against each other and our kids did well in the competitions. One of my favorite moments was when Ellioit Dorow Hovland outworked one of his Swedish friends in a race for the puck, took it in and faked the goalie out - his 'tuck the gun back in the holster' celly was priceless.

The interaction our kids have had with Swedish kids (both in hockey and Bandy) on this trip has been exceptional and our kids are having a great time as a result of the hospitality of the Swedish kids, their coaches, and their programs. I thank all of the Swedes who have been so welcoming to our kids as this trip will definitely provide lifetime memories for them.

Tomorrow.....off to a Swedish school for half the day. Should be interesting as Rory Taylor, Cris Grassel, and Evan Winter have all bought "I love Swedish Girl T-shirts" that they are threatening to wear. Not to be outdone......Sydney Dynneson and Phoebe Warner will be sporting "I love Swedish Guys T-Shirts". 'Til tomorrow........

Kids were allowed to sleep in today with many of them showing up at 9:30am at the breakfast buffet. After breakfast, they would take it easy until noon......where they would face off in the USA vs Sweden (Tillberga) bandy match for bragging rights between the two countries. Last time, the USA took this game, winning 9-4.

Sweden's bandy pride would not be hurt again as our guys faced off against the Tillberga '97 bandy team. They were good, excellent skaters and excellent ball control. They went up 4-0 and twenty minutes into the game it looked like it would be a route. The American team had borrowed a goalie from Tillberga and they were wishing they had suited Nat Shogren up again in the nets...as he was a complete stud.

Beginning the second half, USA player Owen Larson decided to turn things up a notch and follow the team's motto, "Dangle, Snipe, Celly". Larson dangled (stickhandled) through three Tillberga players and Sniped (an incredible, pinpoint shot) a goal in the upper corner of the net, finally, he gave a great Celly (a celebration after a goal). This got the USA fired up and soon the score was 5-3 for Tillberga. The USA was anchored by great defense by Nik Caven, Evan Winter and Foss Kerker....but it wasn't enough as the power of the Tillberga squad was just too much. Final = 8-4 Tillberga. We will get them when we return in two years!

The Tillberga team had been short on a few players and USA coach Steve Jecha made a huge mistake when he loaned the five USA girls to the Swedish team to fill out their side. Sadie Baker, Julia Shepard, Phoebe Warner, Sydney Dennesson, and Maggie Fisher not only brought their keen hockey skills to the Tillberga team - but all of them are accomplished soccer players who understood the importance of ball control and executed with their Swedish teammates. The combination was potent and the team was unstoppable.

The evening would be a relatively quiet one. About 200 yards from our front door is an athletic center where you can play everything from squash to badmitton, to team handball, to tennis........they also have 20 bowling lanes and we decided to take three of them for a team bowling evening. Not sure who won, but all of the kids seemed to have a good time while the parents watched from the peanut gallery.

It was dinner at the hotel and bed for all. Another fun day in Sweden....Tomorrow = Stockholm.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am. While I could have gone back to sleep, I mistakenly and groggily assumed I needed to be up at 5:50 (my wake-up call was scheduled for 6:50!).

I was getting up to head out with our five girls (Sadie Baker, Phoebe Warner, Sydney Dennesson, Maggie Fisher, and Julia Shepard) to the ABB Arena to have a practice with the Vasteras Hockey Klub's 10U group.  Our girl's are several years older and skill level, as expected, was above these younger players, but the format of the practice worked out great.

The Vasteras coach asked our girls to lead a warm up with the Swedish girls, so for the first ten-fifteen minutes our girls ran the practice and they did a fantastic job. I assisted the coach through the drills part of the practice and we ended with a relay at the end of the practice.

Many of the parents took off into Stockholm on the train to go to museums and see the city without kids. They could do that today, as the parents of the Tillberga Bandy kids had volunteered to take our kids for the day.

The boys got picked up at 9::45am and went to a place called ArosFortet with their Swedish friends. The girls got of the ice and we immediately left and met them over at ArosFortet. ArosFortet was perfect for getting the kids together (and we should put one of these up in Minneapolis!). Two of our kids were paired with two Swedish kids. There are approximately 40 rooms, each with a different type of challenge require physical (rock climbing, hill climbing; etc.), tactical (working as a team to solve challenges), and technique (requiring thinking and finesse to solve the problem). Kids loved it. Ben Neal stated, "I liked this the best today because I got to work with Swedish kids to solve the challenges". Aros Fortet is used for company outings, sports teams, birthday parties, etc. It was fun and challenging.

From there, the kids were ferried over to the ABB Bandy Stadium where they were treated to lunch by the Tillberga parents. After lunch they went through dryland training with the Tillberga team and then had a practice with them. Finally, they came back to the hotel for an hour break before heading down to McDonalds for a pre-game gut bomb. The evening game pitted mixed teams in a Tillberga vs STORM USA bandy match. It was a great battle. First half ended at a 4-4 tie and the final was a 9-8 Tillberga win. A great battle. Play of the game was Phoebe Warner lacing a through pass to a Swedish teammate for a breakaway goal. Just how we sketched it on the whiteboard!

The bantam players were itching for the game to end and begging to leave dinner early as there was a Swedish 16U Girls Team Handball team staying in our hotel.

Long day......time for the adults to hit the hay. Tomorrow will be a much quieter day with a bandy game at noon. Our younger players may take advantage of the 'home stay' offered by the Vasteras '98 hockey team.

All of the kids slept soundly. I had wandered down to the hotel restaurant area at about 8:30am and no one was there. About 9:00am the first kids start drifting through and by 9:30 we have just about everyone having breakfast.

Musli and yogurt, hard boiled eggs and fishpaste, cheeses and ham. Probably not the typical American breakfast for our kids, but they didn't seem to complain.

We left the hotel at about 11:00am for an 11:50 am bandy practice at the ABB Stadium. Kids worked through a bunch of drills and did a great job. The last half hour was scrimmage time and they could have kept playing for hours. The Swedes seem happy to let us keep skating as they do not bring the zamboni's out to kick us off the rink! I finally have to blow the whistle as I am worried they will run out of gas. Kids leave the ice and we change and head into downtown Vasteras.

The parents didn't attend the practice, instead opting for touring Vasteras. We wandered into town with the kids and the younger one's connected with their folks while the Bantam and girls players wandered together as a pack in Vasteras.

Tonight our kids got their first taste of hockey....and they all had a great time...while also working hard. Our younger players, now nicknamed 'the mosquitos' got to our storage room at the rink to grab their equipment. Several Vasteras Hockey Klub parents had volunteered to drive them to the rink which was 15 minutes from the ABB sports complex. A great experience for the kids as our parents drove separately. They played for an hour and had a great time. Many of the Swedish kids have invited them to a 'home stay' prior to leaving on the trip. Our schedule is pretty busy, but would be a great experience. Twenty years ago my wife and I got to stay at a Swedish home after I had played in a Bandy tourney and it was a great way to understand how Swedish families live and provide a little slice of their culture. Might not happen....but would be a nice way for them to make lifelong friends.

The older kids skated at the ABB Hockey Stadium with the VIK 95/96 hockey team. It was high level hockey and they had a great time. Before each drill, a few Swedish kids would help explain the drill to our guys so that they could execute.

Here is the big difference from US hockey that our kids experienced: they arrived at the rink an hour in advance. They then went for a 2.5km run with their Swedish friends. Practice was a great practice......great drills and great flow. After practice, the Swedish kids do a 2.5km run to warm down.

The girls had the night off. They did get bored at the hotel and wandered up to the rinks. All of the kids then went to dinner and we walked back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is a full day. The girls have an early morning hockey practice and then they will meet up with the boys at a place called Aros Fortet. Don't know what Aros Fortet is all about....but is is supposed to be fun.

Our travelling went smoothly....no problems and no lost kids!

We arrived in Stockholm on time and took our bus from the airport to Vasteras, where we stopped by the Rocklunda athletic complex and dropped off our hockey equipment. From there we went to the hotel and checked in. Our room assignments were waiting for us and within five minutes everyone was off to check in.

No time for sleep!

We were off to the ABB Bandy Stadium. This stadium seats approximately 8,000 people and has an ice sheet the size of a soccer field. Like skating on a huge indoor pond! Kids were issued their bandy sticks, pants, socks, and gloves and looked like real bandy players!

Thomas Engstrom, Sweden's National 15U Bandy coach ran our training session and it went great. The kids picked up bandy and by the end of practice looked like they had been playing for many years.

Back to the hotel and a quick 1-2 hour catnap before heading back to the ABB Stadium. Our Bantam/14U kids (Evan Winter, Cris Grassel, Bobby Shogren, Rolf Bergford, Maggie Fisher, Sadie Baker, Owen Larson, and Rory Taylor) were invited to play with the Tilberga 14U team vs Holland. Coincidentally, the Holland national team and a 2nd team were in Vasteras playing and our kids got to face off against their 2nd team.

Tilberga allowed our kids to have three slots on the 11 man roster. Our 8 kids rotated into these three slots while playing alongside their Tillberga teammates. A great way for them to learn the game quickly by skating with skilled players.

Parents and those not playing lucked into a great tailgating experience! Prior to our skate, the Vasteras (VSK) bandy club held a 'party' at the rink for key sponsors of their program. There was left over food and drink and we spent the pregame hanging outside in  35 degree weather grilling Korvs (hot dogs) with a guy in a VSK green jacket hosting us. Kind of felt like we were at a Packers-Vikings pregame tailgate party!

The game was an end to end battle with Holland going up 2-0 in the first half. The USA/Swedish team rallied strongly and scored the game winner with four minutes left, winning 4-3. USA player Bobby Shogren scored a goal for the winning USA/Sweden team.

Back to the hotel. Many of the kids had not slept much on the flight....too much adrenaline! 9:00pm hit, the halls were quiet. All soundly asleep. I am sure they won't stir for 12 more hours.

I will try to get some photo's up tonight, but my camera hasn't cooperated with my obsolete laptop! Hang in there! Great day planned for today with a little bandy training, touring Vasteras, and hockey practices in the evening. All good! Parents, feel free to email me with any questions, etc. at steve@jecha.com

It's been two years since members of our hockey club have invaded the town of Västerås, Sweden to play hockey and bandy.

It's a great time, allowing the kids to play bandy with the Tillberga Bandy Club, play hockey with the Västerås (VIK) Ice Hockey Club, tour Stockholm and visit a Swedish school.

A great time was had in 2007 and 2008 and we expect it to be great again in 2010. One of the things we focus on with the Storm is to provide cultural opportunities like this trip, or the Swedish International Bandy Camp that over 60 Storm members participated in August 2010.

Watch this space for blogging and photos from our trip!

Once again, the Storm is sending 17 players over to Västerås (pronounced vest-or-os), Sweden on October 15, 2008. Should be a great trip with our kids getting to play hockey, bandy, hang out with Swedish kids, see Professional hockey and bandy games, and visit Stockholm for a day. Stop back daily for updates on what is going on in Sweden!

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2008 BLOG

The MPLS*PARK STORM and USA U15 Bandy Team would like to thank the following people for their great hospitality in Sweden:

Thomas Engstrom, Lars Vennerholm, Tilberga Bandy Club, Parents of Tilberga Youth Bandy Players, VIK Hockey, Hammarby Hockey, Magnus Skold, Swedish Bandy Federation, the school in Tilberga that our kids visited....and many more that we are probably forgetting!

Thank you. You provided our kids with something very special, and something they will remember forever.

Professional Action: Hammarby vs Tilberga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXE-k8DNgjk

USA U15/STORM vs Tilberga '94

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSlZjk_qSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlSkPyb-H9c

Our Bantams in Sweden will be sending us daily reports on their activities as well as a few photos.

10/16/2007 - Tomorrow our journey begins to Sweden. We are taking 31 players to Västerås, Sweden. Many of the kids cut lawns, caddied, did pancake breakfasts, and fundraised individually to help pay for this trip. Västerås is located approximately 60 miles from Stockholm, Sweden and is the sixth largest city in Sweden. Our trip includes skating, visiting a school, skating, a bowling night with Swedish kids, skating, a daytrip to Stockholm, skating, participating in the opening ceremonies for a new stadium...and some skating.

We will be playing both bandy and ice hockey. Bandy is considered ice hockey's "Father" and is attributed to the rapid rise and success of Russian ice hockey in the 60's as most of their top players were bandy superstars.

The kids don't realize it yet, but from my past experiences, they will get "Rock Star" treatment in Sweden and have a great time. I am most concerned about our teams losing their focus on the ice around "Svenska Flickors" (Swedish Girls)! Good thing we have 20 parents along acting as chaperones! Come back here each day as we will try to get pictures uploaded and let the parents know just how much fun we are having in Sweden. We are bringing lots of t-shirts and other gifts for our Swedish hosts as well as some hockey opponents that we will take on in Stockholm.

We have even brought along some three foot inflatable sharks that the kids can autograph and give as a "gift" to their clubs at the center ice face off dot prior to the drop of the puck.

This is gonna be good! Stay tuned!

10/18/2007

Well, we made it to Sweden. After a long day of travel without much sleep for any of the boys (and girls), we got into Vasteras without a problem. We dropped off our bags, had lunch, and then ran off to the ice rink for a hockey practice.

We were greeted at the rink by the Vasteras media who were there to do a news story on our boys. Carter Rodman stepped up to be our team spokesman and got a lot of camera time in the news clip.

Amazingly....after dinner, the kids went to sleep at 8:30pm. And...they went to sleep fast! We are looking forward to a couple of practices on Friday and a game in the evening. We'll report back. All of the kids are having a great time and there are no injuries or problems! Check out the PHOTOS section on the photo bar at the top of the page (or click below) for more great photos from our first day.

Another day in hockey/bandy paradise.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel is fantastic and the kids have been well fed. We set off on foot to the ice rink to have a morning practice at the ice hall. We had an hour and a half hockey practice and then went to a near-by university to have some lunch.

After lunch, it was back to the ice complex for our first bandy practice. We got to practice on the new indoor bandy stadium. It was quite the experience for the kids and they looked great in their new bandy uniforms. The stadium is preparing for opening ceremonies this weekend and it was chaos around there with people working around the clock to get things done.

In the evening we went back to the rink for a bandy game against our Swedish hosts. Unfortunately, due to warm weather, the outdoor bandy rink was not ready for  skating as it had a few gravel spots still sticking up in the rink. Not good for the skates.

We improvised! and introduced BOOT Bandy to the Swedes. The kids ran the rink on foot and were having a great time when three Swedish girls biked up just outside the rink. Instantly, the game was stopped as the boys climbed all over each other to talk to the girls who thankfully were protected from them by a twenty foot high fence!

We went out for pizza with our Swedish hosts and then called it a night. On to Stockholm on Saturday!

Injury report: None

Kids on "Double Secret Probation" : 1

Lessons in Hockey....

We boarded the bus at 8:30am and started our hour and a half roadtrip into Stockholm. The weather was gorgeous and the bus ride was easy.

In Stockholm, we stopped at the Palace in Old Town, got out and wandered around for about thirty minutes. From there, the bus took Team 2 over to the Vasa Museum. Incredible! The Vasa was a huge warship that sunk in the baltic just outside of Stockholm on its first voyage in the 1600's. Raised from the ocean floor in the 60's, it has been preserved in a beatiful museum on the waterfront.

Team 1 took off to Storra Mossen Arena for their first hockey game with the Hammarby Hockey Club (HIK). They got a great lesson in puck control, movement, fundamentals (passing and shooting), and ultimately how to play hockey on a wide Olympic rink. After three periods the score was 9-0. Fortunately, with extra time on the ice clock it was decided that there would be a shootout....USA vs Sweden. The USA was up 2-1 in the shootout but ultimately went down 6-3. The kids grouped up with the Hammarby kids for a team picture and it was off to the Vasa Museum.

Meanwhile at the Stockholm Polis station....Ok...Team 2 was good and didn't get in any trouble in Stockholm. Team 2 left the Vasa Museum and wandered over to Gamla Stan (the Old Town). The Old Town was gorgeous - cobblestone narrow streets...400 year old buildings...and candy stores.

Team 2 boarded the bus at 4:30 and took off for their game with the '93 Hammarby team. Hammarby is one of the top teams in Sweden and had a kid that was considered one of the top '93 players in the country....as our kids would say..."That kid is amazing". After the first period it was 2-2 and our kids were emboldened that they had the Swedes right where they wanted them. It was short lived. Final score was 10-2 with the shots being 59-21. What a lesson.

The day ended with Team 2 boarding the bus and picking up Team 1 at the Palace in Gamla Stan. Wow...that was hockey.

Memo to Coaches back in the states. Swedish teams arrive at the rink 1.5 hours before skating. They jog for twenty minutes, play soccer, pass a hockey ball, work on individual stickhandling with the hockey ball, and make sure they are fully stretched out. Post game, they go for a 15 minute jog to "warm down". It was a huge lesson for our kids in 'focus' and what very, very good hockey players do to prepare themselves for games.

Back to Vasteras for another day of fun at the ice rinks.

Team 1 got up early and played a 9:00am game against the Vasteras '94s. They started hot, but ran into the persistent problem we have seen over here - the Swedes start training off-ice in August and are very, very well conditioned. In talking with one parent, their player runs 6 Kilometers  six nights a week with their dog in addition to hockey. No wonder our kids started to fade midway through the second period!

The game had some great goaltending, but in the end, it was a 12-0  defeat. Good luck to the '93s on Monday night.

This is where the day got better. We went to the new ABB Bandy Stadium that seats 10,000+ spectators to take on the Tilberga Bandy Club in a USA vs. Tilberga bandy match. It was awesome. The first USA players to step on the ice were our kids, but the Tilberga kids took it to us early. In the end, the score was a 8-3 loss with Tommy Abbott scoring the first USA goal in the ABB stadium (and two goals in the game).

They ripped off their equipment and sprinted to the Rocklundahallen for the Professional Hockey game between Vasteras and Bofors IK. It was a great game to watch as Vasteras took down Bofors 8-1.

From there, a quick trip for some Kebab and pizza...and then back to the bandy stadium. The Tilberga professional team was taking on a Sweden bandy power, Hammarby. The kids got to see an incredibly fast (can't explain in typed words just how fast) game of bandy. At halftime, the Svenska Flickors (Swedish Girls) on bikes showed up outside of the stadium. The boys suddenly disappeared to the parking lot for the rest of the game to hang out and talk with the girls.

The Takeaway - At the end of the day, ALL of our players were 'converted' to bandy players. All want to see how we can schedule more games and play back in the Twin Cities. Tomorrow we are cancelling our hockey practice to play another bandy game.

What a day of pain for the kids. They woke up this morning, had a great buffet breakfast (nothing better than cheese and meats, fruits and breads) and took off to the bandy rink.

The bandy rink just opened over the weekend. The ice surface is the size of a football field and the place is huge. We are all in awe of the excitement of playing on a rink this size. At 9:00am we hit the ice for a practice with Thomas Engstrom - the Swedish National U15 Head Coach. Thomas was fantastic - running a great practice and teaching the troops about how to play bandy and move the ball.

We wandered back to town where the kids had some more of their "staple food", McDonalds. For some reason Micky D's is their "place". Might be that they meet and talk to some Swedish girls there!

After lunch, we had a USA U15 Development Bandy Intrasquad game. We balanced the teams out and the game was a fantastic end to end battle, ending with "Team Storm" taking down the USA in a 5-4 battle.

The kids love playing bandy. Its new, fun and different. The beauty of the game is that with 11 kids on the ice, almost everyone gets to play every minute of the game.

After three hours of playing earlier in the day, it got down to some serious games in the evening. TEAM 2, our "'93" team took on the Vasteras "93's". The game was a nice battle with an end result of a 5-2 loss to the Swedes.

Meanwhile at the bandy rink, TEAM 1, our "94's" took on the Tillberga bandy club in a grueling match. Parents in the crowd were in a frenzy as the USA team lept to a 2-0 lead. It was short lived as the Tilberga Club fought back and challenged our lads. At the end of the day, our troops tied the Tilberga Club 6-6.

A really succesful day for our kids and a nice way to end our competitive games for the week. Tomorrow AM, they are heading to the Tilberga School to spend half the day hanging out with kids at that school and seeing how Swedish schools are different from our schools. We'll play bandy in the afternoon and then have a great going away Pizza Party/Bowling Party with our new Swedish friends.

I know parents have called to see how things are going. All kids are in great shape - no major or minor injuries. Lots of great fun.

We got the kids out of bed early (7:30am) and down to breakfast. Some were moving quickly, some weren't.

Today was a day where the kids would get to go to the Tillberga Middle School and attend classes with their Swedish friends. The kids took public transportation the ten miles or so out to Tillberga.

For many of the kids, this was their most interesting day. Many returned from the school stating they wanted to learn "Swedish" so that they could attend school and spend more time in Sweden. School lunch was interesting....salmon lasagna. Something that would be considered quite nice to serve students here in the US. Most kids agreed it was better than what they would get at school lunch here, but it was still a school lunch (and just being school lunch implies it is bad!). Thanks to several parents for escorting the kids there and earning their "combat pay".

Straight from the school the kids jumped on a bus and got themselves back to the Bandy Stadium at Rocklunda. We would have our final intersquad match ---- USA vs USA. After tieing in the first match days earlier the kids were primed to make sure a USA team was victorious while in Sweden. After a grueling hour match, the score ended up 6-5 and we had a winner.

Back at the lockerroom, the kids began lobbying to stay another week. They were just getting going on having fun and were really having a great time playing hockey, bandy, and hanging out with Swedish kids.

In the evening we left for Strikes, a bowling alley located just blocks from our hotel. Many of the Swedish bandy players that they had hung out with at school were there and the kids hung out and bowled together. The evening ended with each parent receiving the "orders" to take the kids assigned to them for dinner and then return and pack at the hotel.

For me, this was a chance to sneak out with our Swedish "chaperone" Magnus and have a high-end dinner (rack of lamb with excellent complements including aquavit, wine courses, and a Swedish dessert licquor). A great way for me to wind down after a week of making sure kids didn't get in trouble or get hurt in Vasteras.

In concluding our trip, we are looking at returning to Vasteras in 2008. It was just too perfect. The bandy rink and hockey rinks right next to each other, the hotel centrally located in the Vasteras downtown, wonderful Swedish hospitality. The kids that were along would agree....we need to come back to Vasteras!