Eric Nystrom is an instant legend in Stavanger. He made his debut on tuesday, after waiting a fortnight for his work visa, and had an assist in a 2-3 shoot-out road loss. But more than made up for it in his home debut, scoring 4 goals and adding 3 assists as Oilers crushed league leaders Vålerenga 9-3. Oilers also took top spot in the league after this victory. Both 4 goals and 7 points are new club records for a game.
Here is an article from Norwegian tv-station TV2, with video highlights (don't know if they work overseas, but Oilers will have them on their webpage later). Nystrom is #24 in white.
Good ol' Norway league. I assume it isn't full of very talented players?
The league is at ECHL level, I guess. Most of the North American imports in the Norwegian league are ECHL-players, usually among the top scorers in the ECHL.
If you're Nystrom, why wouldn't you join a team where you can be a star instead of a plugger? The pay probably isn't that different and he can be the man. Norway is becoming better as far as quality of play but yeah it's an ECHL type scenario. This is about staying in shape and getting some kind of paycheck more so than honing his skills like the younger players.
ECHL level play but living in the small nation of Norway rather than being bused all over creation here in North America? I can see the attraction, even moreso for a guy like Nystrom, who isn't an ECHL level player and speaks Norwegian (he does, doesn't he?).
I don't care that it's not the NHL.i hope he enters the season (?) confident. I don't expect him to do this all the time, but he did put up 16 goals last season. Maybe he can do it again and add some more assists.
ECHL level play but living in the small nation of Norway rather than being bused all over creation here in North America? I can see the attraction, even moreso for a guy like Nystrom, who isn't an ECHL level player and speaks Norwegian (he does, doesn't he?).
Stavanger is on the west coast of Norway, the rest of the teams are in the east. That means a short flight (approx. 50 minutes), and then a bus ride of between 1 & 2 hours for every road game. So the travel is easy.
His father is swedish born, so maybe he speaks swedish, which every norwegian understands. Anyway all norwegians speak english.
We also have an NHL size rink, unlike the rest of the league.
Even if the league is much weaker than SEL 4+3 is incredible
Yeah, I think this was a game were everything worked for him. In his first game he only had 1 assist. So I don't think anyone expects 7 points per game from now on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trillmike
I don't care that it's not the NHL.i hope he enters the season (?) confident. I don't expect him to do this all the time, but he did put up 16 goals last season. Maybe he can do it again and add some more assists.
During the last lockout Scott Hartnell and Chris Mason, both then of the Predators, played in Norway, and it seemed to have a good effect on their careers. So, yes, gaining some confidence by starring in a mediocre league can have a good effect. :-)
Stavanger is on the west coast of Norway, the rest of the teams are in the east. That means a short flight (approx. 50 minutes), and then a bus ride of between 1 & 2 hours for every road game. So the travel is easy.
His father is swedish born, so maybe he speaks swedish, which every norwegian understands. Anyway all norwegians speak english.
We also have an NHL size rink, unlike the rest of the league.
You mean the arena sizes are not regulated throughout the league? That seems.....odd.
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You mean the arena sizes are not regulated throughout the league? That seems.....odd.
Yes, in fact it's in the IIHF rules:
Dimensions of the Rink
Maximum size: 61 m long by 30 m wide.
Minimum size: 56 m long by 26 m wide.
Our rink is 60m long by 26m wide. That should be about NHL-size.
This is the first year we have had and NHL-sized rink, it's our first year in a new building. And it was built with an NHL-size rink in order to get a faster more exciting brand of hockey.
I think in Finland there are some NHL and some Olympic size rinks, so Norway isn't alone in having both.
