Gopher rookie Leon Bristedt is honored to be playing for his country

The World Junior Championships are taking place this week in Canada and for the 22^nd consecutive time and for all but one of the tournaments, Team USA is stocked full of Golden Gophers. But it’s the one non-USA player to whom this tournament might mean the most.

Freshman Leon Bristedt, who is suiting up for his home nation of Sweden this week says wearing his countries color is a huge deal

“It’s a dream come true,” the Stockholm native says. “This is something that you dream of as a kid in Sweden when you’re watching all those great players and they are playing in that tournament and it’s something that I want to do.”

Bristedt is experienced in international play. But this time around is a little different. Bristedt isn’t playing in the Swedish junior system, he’s having a phenomenal freshman campaign here in America. The coaches of team Swedish team have been keeping track of him, showing just how important they believe Bristedt is to Team Sweden.

“Our coach has been doing a lot of scouting and even gone to St. Cloud to see what the atmosphere is like.”

And to see what the style of play is like and how Leon has adjusted to it. Bristedt has been only been playing college hockey for a few months but has learned to change his style based on the American system. So switching back to the style he grew up playing will be a bit of a challenge.

“I’ve been over here for 6 months so going back to Swedish style is going to be a little different,” Bristedt admits. “In Sweden you never give up the puck. Not much chip in, chip out…we really take care of the puck. If we can’t enter the zone with possession then we turn away and go back home and try to regroup.”

His college coach, University of Minnesota men’s coach Don Lucia, is well aware of all that goes into the World Junior Championships and understands the honor of being a part of it. He coached Team USA last year, ironically, in Sweden.

“The best way I can liken it is, two weeks of Super Bowl. That’s how big it is up in Canada,” Lucia says. “Every game will be sold out. It will really be a great environment and a great place to test your level and ability.”

Which is exactly what Bristedt will be doing against his own Minnesota teammates. Fellow Gophers Ryan Collins (his current roommate) and Hudson Fasching will be across from Bristedt playing for Team USA this week. Always the consummate professional, Leon has taken the time leading up to the WJC to help his current teammates learn Swedish slang so they can properly trash talk to each other during the games.

“I’ve taught him some Swedish words that he can use to chirp us,” Bristedt beams quite proudly. “I can tell you I taught him to say ‘fatty’ and some other words I cannot repeat here.”

While he’ll be meeting more than a few new Swedish faces this week, there will be one teammate that needs no introduction, Adam Brodecki. The two have not only grown up playing together, they are from the same hometown and even born in the same hospital room just a month apart, according to Bristedt.

“We went to kindergarten together, went to the same school, played on the same hockey team and now we’re playing for the World Juniors together,” Bristedt smiles. “It’s so cool that I am going to play World Juniors with my best friend.”

Leon Bristedt has a lot more to accomplish in the next few years at the University of Minnesota and this experience will clearly have an impact on him and his play. While the World Junior Championship is a big deal in the United States, the NHL is always the ultimate goal. In other countries, it’s international play like the World Junior Championships. Bristedt has now taken the first step, with great honor and humility. A few more stand out years at the U of M and maybe he’ll reach his ultimate goal.

“The only hockey tournament that is bigger (than this) is the Olympic games.”

The post Schwartz: Swede dream comes true appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Five with Minnesota ties remain for final games of National Junior Evaluation Camp

USA Hockey today trimmed its 2014 National Junior Evaluation camp roster from 42 to 27 in advance of its final games against the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden later this week. The University of Minnesota’s Hudson Fasching (Burnsville) is one of three Minnesotans remaining in camp vying for roster spots on the U.S. National Junior Team which will compete in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2014 – Jan. 5, 2015, in Montreal and Toronto, Canada.

Fasching, the lone Minnesota-bred forward and one of five eligible members still in camp from Don Lucia’s 2014 U.S. National Junior Team which finished fifth in Malmo, Sweden, is joined by defensemen Ryan Collins (Bloomington, University of Minnesota commit) and Jack Dougherty (Cottage Grove, University of Wisconsin commit). 2014 Minnesota Wild draft picks Alex Tuch (first round, 18^th overall) and Louis Belpedio (third round, 80^th overall) also remain in camp.

Jim Johannson, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of hockey operations and the general manager of the 2015 U.S. National Junior Team, said those dropped from the Evaluation Camp roster today remain in consideration to be invited to December’s training camp from which the final team will be selected.

“As a staff, we have been very pleased with the effort and competitiveness of the 42 players in camp,” Johannson said in a statement released by the team. “The three remaining games this week provide an opportunity for additional assessment of the players that are staying. We will continue to evaluate the players released today throughout the fall.”

Forwards let go by Team USA coach, and Burnsville native, Mark Osiecki include Minnesotans Keegan Iverson (St. Louis Park, Portland Winterhawks), Taylor Cammarata (Plymouth, University of Minnesota), Vinni Lettieri (Excelsior, University of Minnesota), Austin Poganski (St. Cloud, University of North Dakota) and Connor Hurley (Eagan, University of Notre Dame).

Defenseman with in-state ties cut buy Team USA were Mike Brodzinski (Ham Lake, University of Minnesota), Tommy Vanelli (Minnetonka, Medicine Hat Tigers) and Clint Lewis (Burnsville, Cornell University). Hudson, Wis. defenseman Ian McCoshen (Shattuck-St. Mary’s), who also played for Lucia on last year’s team, has been sent home for precautionary reasons according to USA Hockey’s release.

The trimmed Team USA roster will play Sweden on Wednesday (Aug. 6), Finland on Thursday (Aug. 7) and Czech Republic on Saturday (Aug. 9). All games are being played at the Olympic Center’s USA Rink.

The post Team USA Roster Trimmed appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

You are a US born player and spent time with the US National Team Development Program. How important was that to your development as pro?

For me going to Ann Arbor and the program was really important. I was a very raw player and needed a lot of work and I think they saw that as well; to have those kinds of resources as a 16-year old is amazing because you play against older players and it really develops your game. There’s a fine line between developing your game and playing to win and the coaches and the whole staff did a great job of it. I think ultimately my two coaches there and some of the support staff were tremendous in helping me develop and get ready for college and ultimately the next level, here [the NHL].

What is it like for you watching younger players coming through the program now that you are in the NHL?

It’s cool. I think me being a part of it and seeing older guys who went through it and now these young guys…you always remember your experiences there and playing in the World Juniors and the World 18s and it’s just an exciting feeling. You’re always excited to play for your country but as you get up and go through the ranks it’s harder and harder to get that opportunity. I know how special it is for these guys to have this opportunity and they are obviously doing great right now so it’s fun to watch, especially with a couple Canadian guys in the locker room!

Sounds like there’s some friendly competition over the IIHF tournament in the dressing room…

There’s some bets going and we’ll see what happens!

You went from the program to Boston University. How did playing college puck influence your game?

I’m from the Northeast and I grew up watching college hockey so that was my goal. I think for many kids in Canada the goal is often to play in major juniors. Going the college route was very important to me but it’s not an allotted plan for everyone; we all take different routes to get here and for me getting to college was that path. I think BU in particular was important for me because of the coaches and knowing that’s where I would develop best. To be able to have Coach Parker who was very hard on me but in the right ways was really important. Their new Coach David Quinn who was our assistant and defensive coach there took a lot of time to make sure we developed in the right way and I think it was important to do that and I wasn’t rushed out of college either which was also nice.

Do you have any favorite “Winter Classic” style events from your hockey career?

At school we got to play BC at Fenway Park so that’s probably my greatest outdoor game experience. Playing at Fenway in front of 45,000 people was amazing! We got to do that and we won and had a nice little celebration after and it was just a really, really fun night and something that we’ll get to remember for a long time.

Would you like to play in a Winter Classic one day?

I would love to! I think it would be great for us and for the team. It brings a lot of excitement to the game which is important too. Hopefully, we’re crossing our fingers, that St. Louis will get a game sooner or later.

What are your personal feelings on the season so far?

The season so far has been great. It’s nice to start the season on time and go through training camp with all of the guys to get back in the swing of things. I think we have a pretty special team here and we were very excited coming into the season. I think we’ve met our expectations and it’s just been good to not have to go through all of that hoopla and the meetings and such like last year.

You have been stepping up and really contributing to some big wins for your team this season including a game winning shootout goal over the Blackhawks just the other night. How does that make you feel? 

It’s great when you get to fill a big role for your team. I think everyone always hopes to be someone who contributes in a game for their team and when you get the opportunity it’s time to step up and for me it was a great night. It’s always a good feeling to come into the locker room knowing you had a piece of the win and the guys are congratulating you; it’s a very fulfilling type of feeling.

Obviously you guys have already travelled to a lot of cities this winter but what do you think of this Minnesota deep freeze you arrived in yesterday?

Unfortunately I left my coat at home so it wasn’t a great night for me last night! It’s been pretty crazy this season, we’ve been to some cold cities so far but I think Minnesota has taken the cake!

You can follow Kevin Shattenkirk on Twitter @Shattdeuces as well as the author of this article @AmySnow17!

Featured Image:
Kevin Shattenkirk surveys the ice during his two-point night (1-1–2) in the Blues’ 3-2 loss to the Kings on Dec. 2, 2013 in Los Angeles.
(Getty Images/Jeff Gross)

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