My Day as a Frölunda Fan

[The Comish]

When a Canadian friend of mine here in Oslo suggested a guy’s weekend road trip to watch a Swedish Elite League (SEL) game in Gothenburg (Frölunda), I thought hell yeah that could be fun. It turned out to be quite an understatement. It’s a four hour train ride from Oslo to Gothenburg.

Somehow he managed to convince a South African friend of ours to come along. Now our friend knows more about rugby and cricket than ice hockey. I didn’t have the time to enlighten him on how Olaf Kolzig could be born in South Africa and yet play for Germany in international matches. Getting him to understand icing and offside would be enough of a challenge.

We ended up outside the arena over an hour before we wanted to because someone read the game time wrong. So we walked around the block looking for a pub to down a pint in before the game started. Sure enough we stumble (not a drunken stumble, that would come later) across a little pub. Interestingly it was filled with dozens of Frölunda fans wearing their team sweaters (Minnesota Wild colours).

As we were enjoying the fine local lager, a slightly intoxicated fan comes over and starts talking to us. When he finds out we were from Canada, he invites us to watch the game from the cheering section. All we have to do is meet him at the pub in the cellar of the arena in between the first and second period. That should be no problem with over 11,500 people in the arena, right? So we leave the pub after a couple of beer more than we had anticipated and take the short walk to the Scandinavium arena.

Frölunda fans are quite passionate about their hockey and very proud that they led the Swedish Elite League in attendance by a wide margin. The average attendance for Frölunda this year was 11,688 (12,044 is the maximum). That’s over 4,500 fans more than the next team averaged.

Unfortunately, the game we were going to see meant nothing in the standings. The sixth place Frölunda against the ninth place team Sodertalje. I think Sodertalje is best described as New Jersey, but with less offence. Buffalo Sabres prospect Jhonas Enroth was the only player of note on the visiting team’s roster.

Frölunda had several players who have played some NHL games; Niklas Andersson, Michael Holmqvist, Tomi Kallio, Jonas Nordqvist and Ari Ahonen are names that might be recognizable. I was especially interested to watch St. Louis Blues 2007 first round pick, Lars Eller live and in person.

Sadly, the game itself was not very exciting. No hitting, very few scoring chances even though Frölunda out shot Sodertalje 39-22. The final score was 3-1 for the home team (Frölunda). It was a nothing game in the standings and it showed.

I took a few notes and posted them here: http://www.dobberhockey.com/componen...87722/catid,3/

We sat in our seats and watched the first period. Yawn. In terms of entertainment value, this was shaping up to be about as interesting as Gary Bettman drone on about how great a product the NHL is since the lockout.:blink:

Off to find our contact in the pub. It was wall to wall people down there. Like good Canadian boys, we order another round of beer and of course we find our guy. We hear a loud bell go off and we’re told that means we’ve got five minutes before the period starts.

I don’t know how many of you have seen the cheering sections for Swedish teams The entire section stands, cheers and chants the whole game. There was a guy banging a drum and another guy who straddled the railing between the first and second levels who led the section in chanting. That guy with the big voice had his back to the ice the entire game!

I have never experienced anything like that before at a hockey game in North America. I was lucky enough to go to the 2007 World Junior’s in Leksand, Sweden. During the opening game Canada against Sweden, I remember thinking that the cheering section was definitely the place to be. It was far and away the liveliest place to watch the game.

I gained a healthy respect for Swedish hockey fans at that tournament, when after their team was defeated by the Americans in the Semi-Final match, almost the entire cheering section including the drummer, stayed to help the 500 or so Canadian fans help cheer the Canadian squad to gold against the Russians in the Final.

In Gothenburg, we had no problem cheering for Frölunda, so we were embraced by the section (as long as we cheered loudly for their team!). The chanting and light-hearted taunting of the opposition (we’re going to the playoffs and you’re not!). Even our “Frölunda (clap, clap, clap) Frölunda” had to be done a certain way (both arms in the air).

My favourite chant is one I still don’t understand. The guy on the railing chants something and the crowd responds in Swedish with something that sounds to me like “Ya, ya, ya, ya ya ya”. I’m pretty sure the first two words are “Yes I” and after that my Swedish goes downhill faster than the Swedish Women’s Alpine Ski Team. It’s still better than being told by a faceless Jumbotron when to cheer.

When asked what my favourite NHL team was, I learned that it was wise to say Ottawa (Alfredsson) or the Rangers (Lundqvist). Frölunda fans aren’t particularly fond of Peter Forsberg or Mats Sundin, although they recognize them as great players and cheer for them when they play for the Tre Kroner in international events.

After the game, we were dragged (can someone be willingly dragged?) back to the pub to celebrate the home side’s victory. If you get a chance to see a live Swedish Elite League game, I highly recommend trying to make friends with the fans in the cheering section!:woohoo:

[Dobber]

Very entertaining story Comish!
B)

[bwhee]

What a cool experience. I\'ve always thought a hockey road trip would be a lot of fun and now I know where I want the first one to be! Thanks for sharing that great story, Comish.

[Crazynuck]

Comish I totally agree with the cheering section. It is by far the best hockey experience of my life. The fans are so passionate about their teams. I wish we had a cheering section with drums, flags and chants. Looks like Sweden and Switzerland have quite the same atmosphere.

[Maksim]

Great story! I would indeed love to go to a Swedish hockey game.

For my part, I\'ve been to Finnish hockey (SM-Liiga) and it was plenty of fun everytime! I attended several games of HIFK during the season and one during the playoffs. HIFK is the oldest team out there (older than any NHL team) and lately they have seen great talent emerging during their stay: Brian Rafalski, Marek Zdilicky, Tim Thomas, Cory Murphy, Tony Salmelainen, etc.

The best game (hockey wise) was between HIFK & Jokerit, the two Helsinki eternal rivals. This rivalry is even breaking up families out there! And you can imagine the kind of fights you can see in the stands, while Finns are known for drinking like crazy...

As for the cheering section, I was real close to one during the playoffs: SaiPa vs. HIFK. The experience is so much more emotional as you said with a crowd cheering by itself, instead of an electronic device telling you what to do.

Wish it could be the same in North America... At least, we\'ve got some intensity amongst fans here in MTL!

[HockeyHobo]

This sounds a lot like what we get here in the UK, although not with quite the same number of fans.:blush:

I used to stand in \"Animal Corner\" were the wall behind us was draped in a flag made up of the US, Canadian, Union jack and Jolly Roger flags all sewn together. Only the home team fans were allowed to stand, no sitting, here.

Good times

[ultrawhiteness]

man that is so awesome.

[The Comish]

Crazynuck wrote:

Comish I totally agree with the cheering section. It is by far the best hockey experience of my life. The fans are so passionate about their teams. I wish we had a cheering section with drums, flags and chants. Looks like Sweden and Switzerland have quite the same atmosphere.

I completely forgot to mention that when the home team scores, a couple of people (one on each side of the cheering section) run down the stairs with a huge Frölunda flag covering the entire cheering section. Way cool!

Thanks for the kind words guys.

One of the things I\'ve wanted to do for a very long time came true at the 2007 World Junior Hockey Championships in Leksand, Sweden (not last year\'s in the Czech Republic).

You get nothing but hockey for 10 days, up close and personal with future NHL stars in a small environment. I was able to convince my wife that spending 10 days in Sweden (at a cottage!) over Christmas/New Year\'s would be a good idea.

We were able to sit and talk with the parents of the Canadian players as well as Steve Yzerman and Ken Holland. Pierre McGuire was treated like a celebrity over there by the Canadian fans! Never saw Bob McKenzie, I would have liked to speak with him, he\'s so in the know - I\'m envious!

Anyway, sometime in the near future, I\'d like to try and convince a few of my buddies (instead of the family) to save some money and go overseas to a WJHC in Europe somewhere. That would be a worthy road trip.

[Crazynuck]

The Comish wrote:

Crazynuck wrote:

Comish I totally agree with the cheering section. It is by far the best hockey experience of my life. The fans are so passionate about their teams. I wish we had a cheering section with drums, flags and chants. Looks like Sweden and Switzerland have quite the same atmosphere.

I completely forgot to mention that when the home team scores, a couple of people (one on each side of the cheering section) run down the stairs with a huge Frölunda flag covering the entire cheering section. Way cool!

Thanks for the kind words guys.

One of the things I\'ve wanted to do for a very long time came true at the 2007 World Junior Hockey Championships in Leksand, Sweden (not last year\'s in the Czech Republic).

You get nothing but hockey for 10 days, up close and personal with future NHL stars in a small environment. I was able to convince my wife that spending 10 days in Sweden (at a cottage!) over Christmas/New Year\'s would be a good idea.

We were able to sit and talk with the parents of the Canadian players as well as Steve Yzerman and Ken Holland. Pierre McGuire was treated like a celebrity over there by the Canadian fans! Never saw Bob McKenzie, I would have liked to speak with him, he\'s so in the know - I\'m envious!

Anyway, sometime in the near future, I\'d like to try and convince a few of my buddies (instead of the family) to save some money and go overseas to a WJHC in Europe somewhere. That would be a worthy road trip.

If you want someone to go to the WJHC with let me know. I can get free tickets to all the Swiss games and meet the whole team.(I know its just the swiss team but it more of who they play)

[The Comish]

Crazynuck wrote:

If you want someone to go to the WJHC with let me know. I can get free tickets to all the Swiss games and meet the whole team.(I know its just the swiss team but it more of who they play)

That would be cool. Definitely have to keep that in mind!