My trip to Iceland

Last August I finally achieved my childhood dream of going to Iceland and with that said, while I was there, I decided to check out the hockey scene in this country and dispell the myths depicted that Icelandic hockey was a powerhouse in Mighty Ducks 2. Here's some pics and videos of that journey...


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Rink view

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A pic of me standing outside the arena. During this time of the year, apparently, the local hockey season was in pre-season mode and there were only hockey practices and scrimmages and such. It was still summer time when this photo was taken.

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Here are where the spectators go

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Walkabout area

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A picture of me and the World Champions.

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Here's some close up action of Icelandic hockey in all of its finery...

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From the bleachers' point of view of the same game.

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So does this resemble anything like the team from Mighty Ducks 2? lol

Here's some real close up hockey action of the Reykjavik hockey club playing a inter squad game. Iceland hockey in a nutshell.I spoke with the coach during this game and he was telling me that in Iceland the league consists of 2 Reykjavik clubs and 1 club from Akureyi where they play each other all season long. When it's all said and done, let's be honest, the quality is not really there.

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Entrance Area

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The players skating around

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The face-off

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Players bench area


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The team practicing their shooting skills

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Coach watchins his team practice.

I hope you didn't go to Iceland just to watch hockey.

rofl

you just walked in and took pictures with them :laugh:

good thread

as far as I know . ice hockey in iceland hasnt even been around for more than 20 years . atleast with formal teams etc. They also only have 3 indoor rinks .

"A picture of me and the World Champions." Champions of standing still?

Find out what Ricky Gervais thinks about Iceland:

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(starts 3:10)

Was there a need to call them clowns? It's not like the Icelandic government had any part of making them an awesome team in that movie :p

Nice pictures though.

I'm with pretty much everyone else here. What "myth"? It was a movie. Also, they're out there for the love of the game and they're improving themselves at the same time. You think the elite hockey countries just became elite out of no where? Development had/has to happen in every nation from Canada to UAE.

It all starts with passion. Hopefully hockey grows in Iceland.

I'm with pretty much everyone else here. What "myth"? It was a movie.

What I read a long time ago was that Disney wanted to have an evil team as the opposition for the Mighty Ducks and didn't want to offend markets where there are a lot of people so chose Iceland to be the bad guys.

No matter what the Mighty Ducks films might make anyone think, hockey is nowhere near the top 10 sports here. I actually doubt it would crack the top 25. Yes, we only have 3 teams with youth setups; 2 in the capital (SR and Björninn) and one in Akureyri (SA). Akureyri is also the closest to hockey hotbed we have here. At the end of the regular season the top 2 teams (Most often SA and SR) play a 5 game series for the championship. Some of the games in the finals are actually broadcast on national TV, during the finals SA's rink is regularly packed full.

Even though hockey is slowly but steadily growing here, the odds of Iceland ever producing an AHL player, let alone an NHL player are slim to say the least. We've had football players in La Liga, the English Premier League, the Bundesliga and Serie A, Team Handball Players in Spain and Germany and even two NBA players; but the percentage of hockey players here compared to total population makes the odds very slim.

as far as I know . ice hockey in iceland hasnt even been around for more than 20 years . atleast with formal teams etc. They also only have 3 indoor rinks .

Correct, we only have 3 rinks :( Sometimes hockey players here have to share the ice with figure skaters and equestrians when they are practicing.

Correct, we only have 3 rinks :( Sometimes hockey players here have to share the ice with figure skaters and equestrians when they are practicing.

Ironically, Iceland in Mississauga has 4 sheets of ice.

Please tone it down with the "clown" issue, the state of hockey in Iceland and the Mighty Ducks movies can be discussed without name calling.

Is´nt there only 3 teams in Iceland?

Is´nt there only 3 teams in Iceland?

Yes, 2 from Reykjavik (Skautafélag Reykjavíkur and Björninn) and one from Akureyri (Skautafélag Akureyrar).