Tampa. Gabriel Landskog’s lifelong dream came true early this morning, Swedish time.
The Colorado Avalanche won an exciting final against Tampa 2-1, so he, like another Swedish captain in National Hockey League history, earned a Stanley Cup.
– I had a poster of Colorado’s last Stanley Cup win on the wall when I was seven or eight and I’ve been dreaming of being in that picture ever since, he cheered when we met him during the Snowboard Runaway afterward
Yes, the 2021-2022 hockey season finally came to an end at the Amalie Arena in Tampa last night — with the Colorado Avalanche as the Stanley Cup champion for the first time since 2001.
They won a terrible nail-biting at the Amalie Arena with a score of 2-1.
The Lightning was clearly better in the first period and also got a 1-0 lead, but in the second avalanche it turned and turned around. Nathan McKinnon equalized with a terrible shot and Finn Arturi Likonen – who was always a hero when it really mattered – scored the decisive goal.
Because in the third, Tampa couldn’t really reach the impact that the entirety of West Florida had been waiting for. They really tried the final minutes, with goalkeeper Andrej Vasilevsky in the penalty area, but it wasn’t really close, and when it was 25 minutes in Sweden, violent television fun erupted about Darcy Kuemper in the guest box.
A moment later, Hill Cal Makar received the Conn Smythe Award – the MVP award in the playoffs – and then came the moment when Gabriel Landskog has been waiting all his life.
Lift the buckle
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly summoned the 29-year-old captain from Alfshaw—and shortly thereafter raised a jubilant Stanley Cup over his head.
“It was such a great feeling that I can’t describe it,” he says when we meet him in the ecstatic mess of ice in Amalie half an hour after the final sign.
For the past six or seven weeks, I’ve been thinking about that moment every time my head hits the pillow. Don’t you dare think too much, but the thoughts still go there every time. And now… I can’t believe we did that.
But really, Gabriel had been thinking about the amazing moment for much longer than that.
All my life, in fact.
“I had a poster from Colorado’s last Stanley Cup win on the wall when I was seven or eight and I’ve been dreaming of being in that picture ever since,” he says.
Ice hug party
Then explosions of hugs and kisses with the family, including his wife Melissa and dad Tony – touched just as much by the big moment he had.
– What a journey, an incredible journey, says Tony.
At first, I dreamed of nothing else but Gabriel becoming a first-team player at home in Sweden. I never dared hope for the Stanley Cup. But now I can see my son coming forward and picking up the dent… You can’t really understand that.
What ‘Gabbe’ would make of when it came to visiting Sweden he didn’t have time to think about, but it would probably be a cheese party – and that was guaranteed in Tampa last night too.
– Yes, I’m so thirsty so you can’t imagine, he grinned at the new master before disappearing into the dressing-room to drown in champagne.