Energy City. Leksand was responsible for a poor effort in the first practice match.
Head coach Bjorn Hellqvist is still out after brain surgery.
It’s not an ideal situation, but health should come first, and it’s better for him to go now rather than later, says assistant coach Shali Berglund.
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Bjorn Hellqvist was missing in Leksand during the preliminary training sessions and the initial pre-season training session.
Last Wednesday, he underwent surgery in Lund because he had previously suffered from Parkinson’s disease.
The ambition from the start was to be back on Monday, but five days was too early.
– Given his illness, it’s great that he’s getting this help, the illness isn’t something we can do anything about. It is the disease that will appear when it can return. We have good continuity in the management and the group, so we feel calm. It’s not like we’re going to implement a new gaming system. We continue to work with what the team did before. We spoke with him on the phone and sent videos from the practice sessions, says Shale Berglund.
1/2Photo: Peter Arvidsson/Buildburn
“Under all criticism”
In the first Swedish training match of the season, Färjestad won 3-0 against Leksand in Strömstad.
Lexand struggled to get any reaction and didn’t create chances until the end of the match.
– It was a half-hearted effort. There was a lot of play and we got into trouble all the time. The passing game in the opening was under all the criticism, and we threw passes. We created opportunities for them and gave them chances. Obviously players get frustrated, but I’m not too frustrated and don’t draw any big conclusions when it’s the first practice match, says Chali Berglund.
“Tombola with formations”
In Leixand, the injured key players Max Verono, Justin Kloss, Matt Kaito and Martin Karlsson are gone, while Anton Lindholm rests.
– We did not provide the players with the right conditions to play hockey well. Now it was a tombola with formations. It is important to give everyone the opportunity to show off and take their place in the hierarchy. It is only fair for all players not to have too many preconceived notions. We’ll continue like this this weekend. Then we have a training week and then a couple of games the following week that’s when things start to happen, says Chali Berglund.
The Strömstad Hockey Classic continues with Leksand-Frolunda on Friday and Vargestad-Frolunda on Saturday.
