NHL STARS SHOWCASED IN COPENHAGEN

While we all are waiting 'the-miserable-Kane's-story" to be continued and, hopefuly, ended up as a perfect lesson to Chicago uprising star, some Swedish NHLers managed to find spare time (and money) to play charity game in Copenhagen, Danmark, not to beat taxi drivers instead...



Danish hockey fans had a rare opportunity to watch a parade of the biggest Swedish NHL stars when the Icebreakers visited Copenhagen 5-6 August 2009.

On 5-6 August, the Icebreakers, a charity team formed by Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund in 2002, visited Copenhagen to play two games against an All-Star Danish teams and the local team of Rødovre. It was the first time in its history, the Icebreakers played outside Sweden and Finland.

Icebreakers' featured an impressive lineup of some of the biggest Swedish NHL stars: Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Bäckström, the Sedin twins,. Indeed, in both games, the Icebreakers played with a superline centered around Forsberg with Bäckström, Näslund and Zetterberg, and this line received plenty of icetime. The Danish Allstar team included NHL'ers Frans Nielsen (NY Islanders) and Peter Regin (Ottawa Senators) as well as North American legionars Sebastian Dahm and Morten Madsen. Unfortunately, the Danish teams missed some of the biggest NHL prospects, Mikkel Bødker (Phoenix Coytotes), Lars Eller (St. Louis Blues)and Philip Larsen (Dallas Stars). If available, Bødker and Eller would have played both games as they grew up with Rødovre.

The Icebreakers games nevertheless featured the biggest contingent of NHL stars on Danish ice since a starpacked Slovakian national team played a IHWC warmup game in the same arena during the NHL lockout in April 2005--a game that Denmark won 2-1.



Forsberg's comeback?

In the Swedish media there was much hype about the possible comeback of Peter Forsberg who hasn't played since February when he made another attempt to relaunch his career. Forsberg has been suffering from a foot injury ever since his time at Philadelphia Flyers. Over the years, he has visited nearly every single specialist on the planet. He has undergone surgery several times and used special designed skates, but the injury won't heal. After another surgery earlier this Summer, Forsberg plans to make one final attempt to make a comeback, but a few days before the Icebreakers games, he announced that it was not likely that he would play in Copenhagen. To everyone's surprise, Forsberg not only dressed for the games, he also logged more than 20 minutes in each game. If things finally works out for Forsberg, he will likely play for MODO with a view to make a NHL comeback later this season.

Curiously, both games in Copenhagen ended 10-6 for Icebreakers

Lineups:

BT All Stars: Peter Hirsch (41:00 - Sebastian Dahm); Rasmus Nielsen, Jesper Duus (2); Morten Madsen-Frans Nielsen-Thor Dresler / Mads Bødker, Jesper Damgaard; Nicklas Hardt - Morten Green - Kim Staal / Kasper Pedersen,Simon Grønvaldt; Jesper Jensen - Lasse Degn - Mads Christensen / Thomas Johnsen; Jeppe Linander Henriksen - Thor Dresler - Mads Christensen.

Icebreakers: Johan Backlund; Mattias Timander, Markus Näslund; Nicklas Bäckström - Peter Forsberg - Henrik Zetterberg/Hans Jonsson; Per Svartvadet; Andreas Salmonsson - Per Åge Skröder - Niklas Sundström / Jan Öberg, Tobias Enström; Henrik Sedin -Samuel Påhlsson - Daniel Sedin.