Lauderdale Barracks. Erik Carlson has the seventh most celebrated All-Star appearance in Florida.
Son Stellan turns one year old the day before Dad goes out for the ice show.
We sang to him this morning and he had no idea what the hell had happened. But anyway he’ll have some donuts tonight, says Småland’s return to Sportbladet star.
It’s not exactly news that awaits Erik Carlson during this weekend’s All-Star Ball in Fort Lauderdale.
He has been part of the annual Sky League on six previous occasions: in Raleigh in 2011, in Ottawa in 2012, in Nashville in 2016, in Los Angeles in 2017, in Tampa in 2018 and in St. Louis. Louis 2019.
But on one point, this year’s break in streak is different from all the others.
He has the whole family with him. Wife Melinda, daughter Harlow, and son Stellan – the latter takes the opportunity to turn one year old while living in Florida.
“Screaming all the time…”
So it will be a party in many ways.
“Yeah, we got up this morning and sang to him and he had no idea what the hell was going on,” Eric says with a laugh when we meet him at media day on Fort Lauderdale’s vast beach.
– Then we drove for three and a half hours and he was screaming all the time. And when we got here he went to bed and fell asleep. But we are determined to come up with something tonight. We’re going to serve a cake, so he’ll try it, and then he’ll let him run around the hall for a bit.
Dad will, too—running—when the All Star teams meet for the Skills Contest on Friday, because he’s not actually in any moments of the competition this time around.
“Let the youth do it this year”
– I’ll just be the mascot this year, he jokes.
– No, I’ve done most of the things before, so I’ll let the guys do it this year. Instead, I’ll go around cheering and hitting some passes.
The EK65 won’t be wearing a Buccaneer uniform either, as it did at Tampa 2018.
– No, it was a one-time event, because there was a “Gasparilla” pirate party at that time. But I hope to give it another try, I love being a pirate.
Like everyone else, Eric thought it would be fun to hang out with other stars in the league for a few days, including compatriots Elias Peterson, Rasmus Dahlin and Boston hit man Linus Ullmark.
– I only met Linus when we met the Roins, so I’m looking forward to talking to him and hearing about his problem that he can’t let any more pucks in, haha.