I have an ambition to visit all arenas in the SHL, preferably when my Leksands IF is playing there. And even though Leksand and MoDo Hockey have played in the same series a couple of times I have never been to Hägglunds Arena (former Fjällräven Center). So when the schedule was released in the summer of 2023 I checked when LIF would visit Örnsköldsvik in the upcoming season and saw the date 11/1. I spoke to my cousin Max who also is a “leksing” and his fiancee Jessica who is a die-hard MoDo supporter, since they live in Övik, about visiting them and going to the game. When the tickets were released I realized that the Leksand women’s team played in the same arena the day after. Bingo! The hotel was booked for another night, train tickets as well, and then the day of departure arrived.
Wednesday
The day could have started better. About an hour before the train was supposed to leave Stockholm Central, I got a text telling me that due to an accident between Kramfors and Örnsköldsvik, the train was canceled after Sundsvall, which left about a third of the way without transportation. The text stated basically that I was on my own.
Not the text you want an hour before departure. 🙁
I made my way to the station and looked for some staff who I could ask about what I could do. One told me that they had requested buses but that they hadn’t been confirmed yet. I thought that they could have said that in the text.
After some engine trouble, delaying the departure by about 25 minutes, I was finally on my way to the north, still unsure what I would do when arriving in Sundsvall. I found a local train that on their homepage didn’t indicate any cancellations so I booked a ticket for a trip about an hour after when SJ would have left. I made sure it was refundable, in case of the buses were confirmed.
At some station, a couple of staff from SJ came aboard and sat down in the seats across the aisle from me and, among other things, they talked about the issue with canceled trains. Great to have some “backstage inside information” of what was happening and possible outcomes. Apparently, since the accident had happened late the evening before the local train companies had booked all available buses to handle their canceled trains (since they run multiple throughout the day). And since the repairs took longer than expected, SJ couldn’t find any bus to take us.
When we were closing in on Sundsvall there was an announcement that instead of buses, we would get taxis from the station and further north. I spoke to one of the staffers about how the taxi would work out. He told me to go to the taxi station, state which train you came with and where you were going and they would sort it out. So ten minutes before arrival, I took my stuff and headed to the front of the train to be ready. I ended up being the first one through the station building 🙂
Found a minivan that would take me and a girl to Örnsköldsvik, filled it up with more people going to Umeå (end station of the train), and after a switch of passenger who was allergic to dogs (and the dog couldn’t go in one of the smaller vehicles) we were off on the E4. And yes, I remembered to cancel my train ticket, getting the money back the next day.
Took about two hours in silence, listening to my podcasts, ending up coming to Övik just over an hour late. Walked the short distance to the hotel, checked in, and then left again to find some sushi. Max and Jessica picked me up and we went to their place, a lovely apartment with a great view. We just talked for quite some time before giving me a ride back since they were working the morning after.
I ended up in the bar, writing this post and using one of the vouchers I’ve got upon checking in.
Thursday
I took advantage of the day off and slept as long as I could before the hotel breakfast closed. After a delicious meal, I left the hotel to take a walk around Örnsköldsvik. I followed the water and rounded the arena, before heading “downtown”. Since Övik (at least the center) isn’t that big, the walk took much shorter time than I expected and I ended up at Espresso House watching the hockey game between Sweden – the Czech Republic in the Under-18 Women’s World Championship, quarter-finals on my phone. Sweden lost in the end but fought hard for the spot in the semi-finals.
All over the city center, there were flags outside the shops with gameday and the MoDo logo on them. I wonder if they will be up tomorrow when their women’s team is playing.
I went back to the hotel and just relaxed for a couple of hours before realizing, I needed a mug! So I Googled for some tourist information that might have something. I discovered that the local museum had some local handicrafts, so I went over there (just a ten-minute walk, everything is close here). Talked with a lovely lady and found myself a beautiful (but expensive) mug.
After I showered I left the hotel again to meet up with Max and Jessica for dinner at their favorite restaurant, MammaMia. A very nice and cozy Italian place, which was packed already at 17, with a lot of red, green, and white scarves and jerseys. Maybe the first time I ordered a vegetarian pizza, but it had pesto! Very tasty!
We walked over to the arena, another ten-minute walk, and joined the queue. It was the most thorough search since I attended the first derby between AIK and DIF in Globen last season. I had to take out my small foldable sack and explain what it was, and then getting told that I couldn’t bring it in. I tossed it against the wall and walked inside. Stupid rules (not blaming MoDo).
Inside we met their friend Stefan who was going to use our fourth ticket. We took a walk around the arena, it’s always nice to see how different arenas are built, features, and designed. I would say it was rather nice and clean inside the “arena room” (where the stands and ice are), and a bit more rugged behind the stands. Overall it got my approval.
We found our seats, just off the red line on row eight, and waited for the game to begin. Stefan and Jessica wore MoDo jerseys, and Max and I had LIF ones. We got some comments when we sat down but it was all good and fun. Since I was on the end of our four seats I spoke quite a lot with an older gentleman to my left. He explained to me that the date 2016-04-01 was a very dark one in his life. It was the day when Leksand performed “Miracle on Ice 2”, by beating MoDo for a spot in the SHL. You can see the whole game here:
The game had ups and downs, sloppy plays, great plays, missed passes, and great goals. Not a game for a fainthearted person. When Leksand had the lead 0-2 it felt like everything was under control. But after a bunch of penalties, MoDo equalized and took the lead before heading to the second intermission. When TV4 interviewed Challe Berglund, head coach in Leksand, before the third period, he wasn’t happy with the teams’ performance.
Halfway through the third period, Leksand could finally score 3-3 and the game went into overtime. LIF got their first power play of the game and Justin Kloos could shoot the game-winning goal!
Unfortunately, the attendance (4291 out of 7100) wasn’t as good as I expected. I’m used to Leksand drawing quite the crowd on away games. But I guess that this far north even Leksand has a limited amount of fans, and with the current economic climate people are saving money in combination with that the team hasn’t been performing top-notch lately. There were a couple of times when the standing section got the rest of the arena with them, creating some noise, but overall, not that impressive. MoDo does deserve better!
There must have been a camera on me and Max during the overtime because just after the goal we got on the screen and later on even images of us while the goal was scored. Lots of messages poured in through different channels.
We left the arena, making plans for the game tomorrow, and then parted ways. I went up to my room, grabbed my laptop, and then down again to the hotel pub The Bishops Arms. There were lots of Leksand-jerseys and even some MoDo-ones. Worked on my blog post and spoke to three guys from Öregrund who primarily followed Brynäs, but their “second team” was Leksand. A nice way to end this great evening. I was planning to work on Friday so tried to not stay up too late.
Friday
Got up a bit earlier and brought my laptop with me so I could work a bit during the breakfast. Thinking I had “done” Övik during the day before, I could work and save a vacation day. Nothing exciting happened and I went out for a kebab for lunch while shopping a couple of items for the trip home the day after. I noticed that I didn’t see any “gameday-flags”, a bit sad that they don’t use them when their women’s team is playing. Such a small effort.
Of course, it being Friday and I was out traveling, we had some technical issues in the late afternoon but we managed to solve them and the crisis was averted.
Took a shower and argued with myself if I dared to take the t-shirt with a picture of the game-winning goal from 2016. Since I had said that I would wear it if we won the game the previous night, I put it on. But I ended up keeping my sweater on all evening, partly because I didn’t want to antagonize anyone. It’s clear that April 1st, 2016 is a dark memory among many people in this town.
I went out to meet Max and Jessica for dinner at Food Junkies. As I entered the restaurant, Max and Jessica were sitting at the first table speaking with the owner. He looks at me, staring me down, with a disappointed look in his eyes, since he just had been informed where my sympathies lie when it comes to hockey. We ordered our burgers and had a chat about hockey, football, American football, rules, cheating, corruption, and lots more. Both the conversations and food were great!
Jessica had to study so we said goodbye and Max and I walked to Hägglunds Arena for the second night in a row. No line or search this time, and we could just show our tickets from the night before to get in, lucky us! Since someone was sitting in “our” seats from the previous game we sat down one row below and on the other side of the red line. We saw a couple of LIF jerseys on the other side of the ice and maybe one or two MoDo jerseys among the 98 spectators (according to the official report).
Leksand started the game very well and had a great flow, then in the fifth minute, Tereza Radová number #77 in Leksand, hit the boards in a collision with a MoDo player and fell to the ice. She stayed down and players and referees immediately checked on her, laying completely still. The physio in Leksand went onto the ice to check on her and after a couple of minutes, her colleague from MoDo joined her. One of the linesmen talked to staff between the benches and asked her to call for an ambulance. In SHL it’s a requirement for a game to start that there is an ambulance on site, apparently, that is not the case in SDHL.
The referees told the teams and the audience that the game had been suspended until the ambulance had come and gone so the players left the ice. They brought in blankets and jackets to keep her warm and removed some of her gear. After a while the ambulance arrived and they put her on a spineboard, loaded her into the ambulance, and left for the hospital. After a while, Leksands IF posted good news on X:
The interruption took about 30 minutes and after a short warm up the game continued. Leksand kept playing very well scoring the first goal halfway through the first period. I wasn’t very optimistic before this game basically because MoDo was ranked number two in the league and Leksand number nine, out of ten teams before the game. So ending the first period in a lead felt great.
The second period didn’t contain any penalties or goals but some great chances from both teams. Almost halfway through the third period Leksand had a great minute and scored both 0-2 and 0-3 in 55 seconds. Me and Max got to cheer and clap in front of not-so-happy MoDo fans! Unfortunately, MoDo scored 1-3 with 47 seconds left, which to be honest probably was fair, but I felt sorry for the goalie, Emma Polusny, who didn’t get a shutout. I hope that the team can continue to play this well and keep scoring goals, then we might get an SDHL playoff in Leksand this winter.
Celebration on the ice and in the stands, almost a jackpot with five out of six points on this trip. Jessica was coming to pick us up and I joked about Max getting a text “You can walk home…” 😀 But, kind as she is, she showed up and we went up to Varvsberget, a viewpoint on the south mountain hill, to look at Övik from a higher vantage point. Even though it snowed the view was rather well and they pointed out some different locations in the town.
We left the mountaintop and went home to their lovely apartment again and just talked, about just anything. When the clock passed midnight I realized that, even though we enjoyed the chat, I should get back to the hotel since my train home was scheduled to leave at 08:07 in the morning after. When I got back in my room I packed my bags and got everything in order to have an as easy as possible morning. I rather spend a bit extra time the night before a trip to fix everything instead of fixing stuff just before departure.
Later in the evening, Leksand posted another update about Tereza with great news!
Saturday
The alarm went off at 6:45 so I could take a shower and pack up the last stuff before heading down to breakfast. Might be the first time I’m the first one to enter a hotel breakfast (it opened at 7). I wasn’t that hungry but got some in me at least and then made a couple of sandwiches I could bring on the train. It’s a 5 ½ hour ride so I would need something to eat.
Walked the short distance from the hotel and found platform 11. When I saw the platform number on the ticket last night I was shocked because the train station didn’t seem that big, although I never saw the tracks when I arrived Wednesday because of the taxi trip. For some reason though, the station only has tracks 11 and 12. The train arrived and departed on time. In Härnösand the police met up and checked a guy on the train. After a few minutes, they took him with them and we could continue, getting a delay of about 13 minutes.
When I’m writing the last part of this blog post we are passing by Sundsvall again and I’m hoping I won’t have a reason to make any updates due to more travel issues.
Thank you Max and Jessica for your hospitality and company these days. It has been much more fun than without any company, even though the games entertained 🙂 And I really enjoyed our talks, high and low.
