Lulea HF of Elitserien Hockey League still unbeaten in the 2012 European Trophy Tournament
Lulea HF, a professional ice hockey team that plays in the Sweden’s Elitserien Hockey League, has had a start to the 2012 European Trophy Tournament as they have won five out of the five games that they have played, which means a perfect 100% record.
They have scored 25 goals in the first five robin round matches and have just eight goals scored against them. Lulea were toppers of the Elitserien Hockey League (SEL) last season and they were the winners of regular season but they had to face an upset
loss in the very first round of the playoffs, in the fifth game, something which they would not like to repeat again.
They were up against AIK Stockholm, which is not a very experienced and strong team. Lulea were firm favourites to win it and go through to the next round, but they showed poor defending in all the matches and went on to concede 17 goals in the five games,
scoring just 11. Coming towards an end, their performance got worse as they scored only one game in last two games.
One of the causes of their sudden downfall was loss of former Carolina Hurricanes player, Niclas Wallin, who plays as a defenseman. The 37-year-old Wallin was even advised to take retirement as he has already played for a long time but a decision is not
made yet and it is still unconfirmed if he will play or not.
Now they will have a new captain who will lead them in the new season and that would be Jan Sandstrom. Sandstrom is also a 34-year-old veteran who plays as a defenseman and would have this task of keeping the defence line strong in the absence of Wallin,
having some extra pressure and responsibility.
One of their new signings is Linus Klasen, the centre and the left winger. 26-year-old Klasen previously played for Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League (NHL) and last time when he played in Elitserien for Södertälje SK in 2009-2010 season,
he scored 51 points in 51 games, scoring 19 goals and 32 assists at an average of one point per game.
With their new signings, all the changes and good start, Lulea would be hoping to go steps higher than what they did last season.
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