Canucks and Beyond

The Swede Factor in Vancouver

04/14/2011 at 11:46pm EDT

From Mark Spector at Sportsnet.ca:

It seems like there has always been a two Swede minimum here in Vancouver. And, coincidentally or not over the years, a nicer team you’ve never met.

From Thomas Gradin, Patrik Sundstrom and Lars Lindgren, through Mattias Ohlund, Markus Naslund, Mats Sundin and the Sedin brothers, the Tre Kronor has run deep through an organization that - coincidentally or not - has always been questioned on grit and playoff toughness.

Video below featuring Dan Murphy and Mark Spector:

More from Sportsnet:

Vancouver’s Western Conference quarter-final against Chicago wasn’t a period old when Edler took a hellacious run at Chicago captain Jonathan Toews right at centre ice, a hit that Toews mostly avoided though he was knocked down. Ehrhoff then smoked big Troy Brouwer with an ill-intentioned body check, and Edler took another big run at a Blackhawks player before the period was done.

Even Jannik Hansen was throwing the body around, showing it is indeed possible for something to be rotten in the state of Denmark.

“Last year, halfway through the season, I started to figure out that I needed to be maybe a bit more physical. Finishing checks, grinding away,” Hansen said. “It definitely took a couple of years playing pro to get away from the style I was playing in junior, and to some (extent), in the minors.”

“I sat out quite a few games, didn’t get to play. When I played, I played very limited (minutes). It was a combination of (Manitoba coach) Scott Arniel, Mike Keane, and of course Alain (Canuck coach Vigneault), who kind of pushed into my head that this is the way you need to play if you’re going to play at this level.”

more at Sportsnet.ca

P.S. If you have trouble at the Sportsnet link, you’re not alone. That link crashed my computer more than a dozen times before I was able to snag a bit of material to link it. If you have the same issue, let me know in the comments and I’ll provide the full article in the comments of this post.

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