Uffe and Henke

It is great to hear about the great stuff happening in the NHL, namely the good news surrounding Henke Lundqvist who is apparently doing really well. Here is some news straight from the horses mouth as it were.

Henke is a great goalie, and the Swedish league appears to be a good precursor to the NHL, at least Henke is able to reproduce his success. The key is to make it through the bad spots, which come inevitably, especially in New York. As a New Yorker, I know how tough the fans can be when you get into a rough patch. Henke needs to stay strong, keep his composure and play out of the rough patches, something I am sure he will do. Still, he is just 23 and New Yorkers are not known for their patience. Yet there are some similarities between the US and Sweden so I am sure Henke will thrive.

It gets freakier . . .

Not only does this Ulf Rönnmark thing stink, it is getting stinkier. The man who made the decision to remove Ulf Rönnmark happens to work for a competing company, called Svenska Spel. Svenska Spel is the Swedish gambling monopoly. He also is the president of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association! Of which Svenska Spel is the chief sponsor. So did the government, trying to protect its monopoly, force the Ice Hockey Association to fire Uld Rönnmark? What exactly are the rules for referees anyway? Is it in fact illegal to have a job or just a job with a competitor of Svenska Spel? Can the players gamble on matches in which they play? How about the referees?

No wonder more Swedes follow the NHL, in the US the players are paid by the teams, not by gambling companies like in Sweden.

The Ulf Rönnmark saga

The Ulf Rönnmark saga has taken another odd turn. This time Ulf Rönnmark himself feels he will be completely vindicated from taking a job with expect.com, a sports betting firm. He may in fact be right, since who knows what information he hasö he claims he has certain information that he cannot reveal at this time which will get him his job back immediately.

The odd thing is Ulf Rönnmark see nothing wrong with what he has done and claims it is impossible for him to influence the outcome of games. This I find remarkable. First of all, the appearance of a conflict of interest should obviously be seen by Rönnmark. I am incredulous at his claim that he cannot influence the outcome of games, as if it was beyond his control. This is just not true. Calling two hooking penalties in a row will most likely result in a goal with the current parity in the league, so he could easily effect the outcome of games. The officiating is somewhat inconsistent in the Elitserien anyway and a poorly officiated game would not raise eyebrows.

Still, even if Rönnmark does not come back, there is so much gambling in European sports that this should be considered a wake-up call. Recently an entire Finnish soccer team was essentially under Chinese bookmaker's control since they bought the team and changed management then crafted the team to loose by a wide margin. There have been gambling scandals involving officials from France and Germany and anyone who thinks that the Swedes have some "probity" gene is smoking crack, look at their reliance on assuarances against torture from the Egyptians.

The sad thing about this all is that it diminishes the players acheivement and ruins the integrity of the game. The Swedish authorities ought to start looking into this to protect the sport in Sweden.

Henke starts to take over the NHL

It was a good start, tying the Devils. The devils are no ordinary team, they are one of the most consistently good teams in the NHL along with the Red Wings. Henke did well to hold them to two goals in regular time. The Rangers are unbeaten and Henke has begun his career in the NHL, I think it will be a long one.