It was very much about Modou and Faristad that way at the start of the season.
But Skellefteå is still one of the teams that has impressed me the most so far.
They were completely out of the spotlight in the opener, except when it came to producing the meager goals.
But despite that, they are a great team again.
I thought Skellefteå would suffer a bit of a slump this winter, when Jocke Lindstrom finally decided to quit and Oscar Müller hit the wall and disappeared.
The pin can’t get any heavier.
Now I see the same Skellefteå beating Roger Rönnberg’s Frölunda 3-0 and climbing to third place in the table.
he is strong.
It’s hockey culture.
It’s Skellefteå.
The same club I saw make several desperate attempts to return to the SHL in the early years of the 2000s, after sixteen straight seasons in Division I and Allsvenskan hockey.
Most people have forgotten that nowadays.
In the end, they made the move and were greatly helped by the old man Magnus Wernblom who became a great hero when the Västerbottins declined.
Skellefteå returned to the SHL in 2006/07 and after finishing eleventh and qualifying for the first season, västerbottninga has qualified directly to the quarter-finals sixteen seasons in a row.
In the same period, they won the series four times and were in the top three for half of the sixteen seasons.
No other team comes close to this consistency.
The end seems far from near.
It turned into flawless defensive play
I saw Skellefteå beat Frölunda 3-0 on Thursday night, and it must have been one of the team’s best games of the season.
Linus Soderstrom – the SHL’s top goaltender last season – kept his first clean sheet and the defense was near flawless.
However, coach Robert Olsson unexpectedly lashed out afterwards and said you are only at the beginning of the journey.
Then I wonder where it will end up.
Skellefteå are already third in the table, just one point behind Örebro, who were responsible for a late turnaround at home against Timrå as they tied 2-2 with 33 seconds left and then won in extra time.
It’s because there are requirements.
But perhaps this is exactly what makes Skellefteå so powerful.
I would say they are the team closest to Färjestad, in terms of organisation, heart of the club and, not least, finances.
There is an inherent irony there.
Just like Färjestad, they have the ability to bring in players from abroad who will quickly become part of the club’s heart and history.
In addition, a club that has spat out its own talent over the years.
It was a few years ago, when Skellefteå brought only new talent from the pantry in a never-ending stream. Now they have slopes
It’s really a mystery that they haven’t won more SM gold than the two of them in 2013 and 2014.
I also kept an eye on the encounter between Luleå and Modo, where the Ångermanlanders started well and took a 1-0 lead through a heavy overhead kick from David Rundblad (freshly from Skellefteåtalanger).
But in the second half, Lulea took over almost completely and Brendan Shenemin’s 2-1 goal was a real smoker hitting the far crossbar behind Ole Eriksson Ek.
The Shinnimin impressed with this approach in their season opener.
Linus Omark did not.
There’s not much at the moment, and it was another scoreless game for the SHL’s most rewritten new acquisition.
But the feeling is that there are small margins and once you dilute, you will dilute a lot.
Anyway, Norrbottnings has a lot of saving capital there.
The table became very even after nine rounds, with Frölunda and Linköping only playing ten matches.
Two wins in a row could give a real shot in the table.
There are only six points between second-placed Örebro and twelfth-placed Malmo.
I hope it continues that way.
1/2Photo: Ola Westerberg/Bildeberon