New season begins

A new season has begun and it looks to be one dominated by youth. The NHLers are back in North America and some of the youngsters who did not get a chance to play last year are itching to show what they can do. Last night we saw a young group hit the ice;
Defensman Richard Demén-Willaume
RW Kirill Starkov
CE Sebastian Karlsson
LW Anton Axelsson

This line, the ask line let's call it, looked good. Fast with a bit of punch. Anton Axelsson might actually turn out to be better than his brother PJ Axelsson, he looks agressive and fast with a two-way style of play, he made an excellent defensive play last night and remained on the ice when the coach reduced the shifts from four lines to three. He holds great promise. So does Sebastian Karlsson and Kirill Starkov. Starkov was drafted by Columbus and he may get a chance to play in the NHL, he looked to be highly skilled. Sebastian Karlsson served his first penalty and dished out some punishment.

Richard Demén-Willaume looked very solid, he made some good plays and appeared to be quite confident despite it being the home opener. He needs to be more punishing along the boards, like Oduya was.

Mora played well, I hope and think they will stay in the league this year. Their goalie let them down in the last period, otherwise they played well.

Three stars - Niklas Andersson
Two stars - Tommy Salo
one star - Tomi Kallio