The EHA Team Sweden ’13 completed the first tourney within the North American Series class. The tourney took place in Detroit, MI from January 14th through 21st, 2025. Kids have completed 2 on-ice practices, played 8 games, absolved 3 facility tours, watched 1 NHL game and more…
EHA has been preparing for the launch of North American Series class / program in cooperation with Southside Skolidrottsförening as well as our friends and partners – ice hockey teams and organisations in the U.S.A. and Canada – throughout the whole 2024.
The goal of this program is to create the educational platform for European players to meet and compete with their peers in North America while building social and linguistic competences as well as finding new friends – all of it while having fun doing what they love.
More about the North American Series class / program
North American Series – Stats & Results
Watch the games on EHA’s official YouTube channel.
ABOUT THE TEAM
HEAD COACH
We have asked Mr. Storm a couple of questions after the tourney.
Q: “Thomas, what do you think and how would you evaluate our recent tourney from an ice hockey perspective?”
Thomas S.: “I think it is very good for young hockey players, because when they are young they adapt quicker and come back to Sweden with experience about how to play against North American hockey players. When you are young that gives you plenty of time to learn how to play against them and learn from them without copying them. That’s important. What I could see, if we still play what I call ‘European style’ – not just south-north but play east-west, drop pass, circling in the corners, no-looking pass, lots of body-fakes – that’s our weapon.”
Q: “OK, and what do you think about the level of their hockey when we look at the respective age group, like as of now, 2013 born players? What would you say their level is when we talk the AAA Tier 1 teams that we met e.g.?
Thomas S.: “Oy, of course, they are players picked from almost the whole country, or from big cities, so compared to Sweden, we should travel with the national team to compare. But we did it well. The level in the U.S. and Canada compared to my earlier experience – they are much much better. I have never seen the players stick handling before the games, doing warm-up – never seen that before – with a green biscuit, wooden or plastic skills board. So they do copy some of our best drills.”
Q: “Yeah, so they are also copying. So basically we can learn from each other which would mean the progress for everybody. We have been talking earlier about the kids’ moral and hard work over seas – both goalies, defensemen – they are really fighting, back-checking, simply, it’s a hard work and that we have seen in our games also. Could you say something to that?”
Thomas S.: “Yeah, the goalies, the defence, the intensity, the hard work. But, for me, they are a little over-coached, they are strict in system play etc. I prefer – and it is more difficult and takes longer – but I prefer more improvising, fantasy and creativity by kids so they have the fun and play.”
References:
Thomas Storm on Thats Hockey (TH)
Leifby möter skridskogurun Thomas Storm
Read also:
Knowledge Base: IIHF Study on Europeans going to North America
SKATERS
GAMES AND THE TOURNAMENT
From great opponents on the ice to great friends off the ice.
‘EHA Team Sweden’ had an opportunity to compete with some of the finest from not only Michigan but also Illinois and Ohio during this tourney.
Boys have lined-up in total 8 games meeting 6 teams: HoneyBaked (twice), Oakland Junior Grizzlies, Little Caesars, Chicago Mission, Ohio Jr Bluejackets (twice) and 2013 Cleveland Barons. Kids left the ice as a winner in 6 of the games while 2 times they had to accept the loss. However, every single game has been a great experience and fantastic lesson of the game of hockey.
More detailed results and stats are available on
North American Series – Stats & Results
Discovering and exploring the new – standard desire of every child.
As all the games were played within and regulated by USA Hockey’s rulebook, our players had to show the ability to adapt to some of the differences in the rules that applied. The main ones would be concerning: Icing the Puck, Offside / Delayed offside and Body Checking rules.
For more details about these rules, consult our Knowledge Base.
* The USA Hockey, Inc. logo is a registered trademark of USA Hockey, Inc.
Competition on the tournament with the finest company.
The opportunity to compete on ‘HockeyTown MLK Elite Invite’ tournament has been a part of this tourney and we can say that our boys took advantage of it with good manners. They have shown that they can compete fairly and against some of the best ones.
We want to thank the organiser for invitation, all the opponents for great games and fun, and at last but not least we want to congratulate the tournament Champions: Team Illinois as well as the tournament’s finalist, Little Caesars.
All results of ‘EHA Team Sweden’ are available on North American Series – Stats & Results.
