Abrahamson: They introduced themselves directly
Orebridge. What is the position of Örebro and Linköping?
I don’t know if we’re any wiser after that first show.
But at least there were two teenagers who shined.
Two unpopular teams during pre-season. Two teams aspiring to climb the SHL hierarchy – but were also mentioned as candidates for the playoff battle.
Two teams also have two of the country’s top four most promising teams in their squad.
The two immediately introduced themselves.
Philip Bistedt, 18, gave Linköping a 2-1 lead in the middle of the period. When Örebro appeared to have a collective offensive collapse, Leo Carlson, 17, took the lead and fired 2-2 after 51 minutes without goals.
He was clinical when the situation arose into the power game.
The match between a first player (Besttedt) and a potential last player (Carlson) won the points.
Carlson has huge potential and has demonstrated conclusively that he deserves the place next to the two biggest stars, Rodrigo Apolles and Mathias Bromi.
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if a Färjestad producer is in the top ten in this summer’s NHL Draft.
After 60 minutes, the two teams shared the two points.
The third point finally went to Örebro.
Much could be improved in Orebro
Expensive LHC signature Ty Rattie hit the crossbar in the final minutes before being sacked in the final second of the third inning.
Once Ratti entered the ice, Robert Leno sent in the winning goal. The Finn, who barely scored at all last season, has now broken the clean sheet on the spot. It was one of the few things that coach Niklas Ericsson could be pleased with at this premiere.
Because there is a lot that could be improved in Orebro.
The big question ahead was how the Linköping would handle the intense Örebro pressure and active skiing in the front check. One good pass is not enough to break the pressure of the Orebro, it takes two.
At first, it didn’t work at all.
Orebro was everywhere and Linköping was nowhere.
Bring LHC to the match
Team captain Junland had to symbolize Linkoping’s rigidity when he didn’t hang out with Emil Larsson regarding the signing.
0-1 after 1.38 was not what coach Ostman would have dreamed of, after only defeats in pre-season. It would have been 0–2 and 0–3 before five minutes were played.
It took the umpires a long time to find out that Orebro played with six players off the field. No one should blame them, because that’s exactly how I felt for the first six minutes.
Now, the team’s flying home in the opening game is far from being anything but unique, especially not at the premiere.
A hockey match does not last 10 minutes, but at least 60 minutes.
As I sat looking for the person to return Linkoping, Christopher A raised his hand.
It was the rough player who hacked the match when Linköping found his way into the match. He checked the shots, lunged, covered them and also scored the equalizer.
Suddenly it was Orebro who struggled in his area and completely lost speed and sharpness in his offensive tackles and went too far as a team.
Linkoping also took the lead midway through the period when young talent Philip Bested scored 2-1, his second goal in the SHL. There will be more, rest assured.
The visitors also came close to another goal but Jonas Enroth responded with a wonderful shock to the leg goalkeeper when Patrick Russell’s free kick.
We’ll leave the middle period there, because it wasn’t really good for 20 minutes.
Especially from the home team, who had some sort of clear advantage but ended up a lot outside and created quite a few quality chances against a Linkoping side that rallied centrally.
Örebro certainly does not have the largest attacking squad in the league, and when there are no goals from Bromé and Apollos, the attackers become very weak.
Just like in Stångebro in the ’90s
The best and most creative of this premiere was the new acquisition Petros Palmo. Short but fast, strong and with very good opening passes.
But if Orebro is to become a team to reckon with this season, Apollos and Bromie must lead the way.
Prior to this season, Linköping talked about becoming more game-oriented and forward-leaning. Own more disk than opponent. Control the game yourself more and rely less on the mistakes of your opponents.
They weren’t there in that premiere, it just looked a bit like normal, but it was a well-executed game. And given how pre-season it was, this was definitely a step in the right direction.
They also find their defense chief in Oskar Vantenberg, who is unmistakably Behren Arena.
Now it was not only Linköping on the ice that impressed, but fans also responded to the strong premiere.
They filled in large portions on one short side and sometimes took over the ring.
It was more like the classic ’90s Stångebro.