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Tsunny · 08-01-2024, 04:49 PM

They said some places feel like a second home, but I was always someone who didn’t believe in that. There is only one home after all. How could you feel at home in two or more places? When I got drafted to Québec, I considered the opportunity to live there as nothing but business. I will be moving to a different place in 4 years so what’s the point of getting too comfortable? Looking back now, how wrong I was at the time. The people there are amazing. They made me feel welcome from day one, they helped me so much and I can only hope I was able to help them as well. I have always tried to motivate my teammates in my own way. Was a blunt at times? Yes. A bit too blunt? Possibly. I still remember snapping at poor Celly for the „unforgivable” crime of not coming back to defend. While I can be quite competitive I also feel like unless you talk to me daily, you probably don’t know me that well. Some may think I’m arrogant, some may think I’m too serious. To those, I wish we could sit down for a chat sometime. So that you will know the real me. Nevertheless, before I get carried away lets go back to the original topic. Despite the fact I tried to look at my time in Québec as nothing but business, that quickly turned into much more than that, and my view that there can only be one home slowly but surely shattered with it. As such my time in the J was something I could never imagine in my wildest dreams. I’ve got to meet a lot of people with some leaving marks in me one way or another. Just to mention a few, there was of course:

Probably the most important person of them all, the man we all just called „Chief”. He was there to help me in any way he could. He helped me a lot to grow both as a player and as a person. There is a reason I still call him „Boss” even after leaving Québec. I could hardly describe the amount of respect I have for him and how close he is to me. He is like a father to me, my hockey father as you will. Of course I could go on and on about him but I suppose I would really only repeat myself from previous times when I have talked about him. That being said, I can never say it enough times how grateful I am and how much I appreciate him. I don't think anyone is ever gonna quite like him in my eyes. After all there is only one Chief.

Then there were of course my teammates of whom, I would only mention a few for now. I suppose I could start with the most obvious one, my sister Frøya. We grew up together so there were no „surprises” during our time together in Québec. But that also meant I was always looking for her opinions if something was bothering me or if I wanted her to take on something. I suppose that’s just how siblings are. And it was great to have her with me during this journey because I must admit, I really miss the rest of my family. My parents and my little sister, Ela. So having Frøya with me during all those years was a massive help for sure. And knowing that she will follow me to Calgary or rather speaking I got to follow her to Calgary means quite a lot to me. I say I was the one following her because she was the one who got selected 1st overall in that draft. Oh, how jealous I was of her at the time… Well both proud and jealous. Given that she is the reason I got into hockey, she is also the number one person I want to be better than. To show her -and I suppose all of those people who put me behind her- that I’m better than to be stuck in her shadows. While that’s gonna be a tall ask, I’m proud I’ve got such a talented twin.

Someone else who I had a rather close relationship with from early on was quite an unexpected man. I remember when I first met Juan, I was a bit scared of him. I mean he is 6’3 after all. He was easily towering over me when we stood next to each other. Thankfully he was pretty talkative from the beginning and out of the two Latvian defencemen he knew English too. So that surely helped. Given how we were mostly on the ice at the same time and we were playing on the same side, we started building chemistry rather quickly. By the end of our 4th season, we could communicate without words. I don’t think I had such a great partnership with any teammate ever and that includes my twin which honestly really surprised me. I even remember all the stuff we used to do together like we even trained together. Heck, I remember him trying to keep up with my training method one time. I have never seen him so out of breath. I suppose he is right that the way I train is not normal but I have always been the hardworking type and I don’t think that’s gonna change anytime soon. One thing I have to mention however was Juan’s unconscious contribution to one of my most bizarre experiences. One night out of curiosity and boredom I looked up my name. One thing led to another as I found a page called „Archive of our own”. Not having any idea, I clicked on the page. It didn’t take long to realise it was just a place where people upload their own stories and it seems there was one page dedicated to me. Curiosity got the better of me once again and I started looking only to find one man’s name pop up next to mine. It was Juan. That was the night I learned about the fact that me and Juan were shipped by some of our fans. I suppose it makes sense at the end of the day but it was still quite a bizarre experience.

Now last but not least when it comes to teammates, there were also Céleste who we all just called Celly. I suppose it was easier to pronounce their nickname than their first name. Which was not difficult by any means but yeah. Anyways, while they did start on a different line we were sat next to each other in the dressing room in our first season. I remember we used to mess with each other even. While I did veiw them as more of a rival at the start, they turned into a friend over time. Especially when we got on the same line. While they were not quite as close to me as Frøya or Juan, they were easily the player with who I had the third-best chemistry by the end of our 4th season. While we did have our disputes throughout our years together -mainly on defensive duties- I think we both managed to put those behind and now whenever we meet, we can get by quite well. Our draft class from Québec got quite the bond after all.

Of course, I do have my fair share of interactions with people outside of Québec. Out of those, I would only really mention two people. One of whom is Alexa Johansen. A woman I knew from before our time together in the J. After all, we did meet in a tournament before either of us was drafted to the J. While I do have my fair share of respect for her and her talent. She was my first-ever rival who wasn’t related to me. Of course our relationship is not bad at all, we do like to banter each other quite a lot. I would even go as far as saying that we’re quite similar. Which is why I want to beat her so much I suppose. Will the real Sonja Solberg please stand up, eh?

Now the other player in the J who I wanna mention is also someone who much as I hate to admit did manage to kind of get under my skin. Ólafur Atlason at first didn’t seem to be anything extra to me. Granted he is quite tall which makes any effort of shit-talking him in the future quite hard on my side, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna do so anyway. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We didn’t share much time in the J. He came 3 seasons after me so we only shared one season. And in his rookie year, while we did have our fair share of actions on the Ice, it was nothing special. If anything it was your everyday things happening on the Ice. However after he was drafted to Edmonton -Calgary’s biggest rival- that’s when I started to pay closer attention to him. And I must say he is quite talented. From what I noticed he is also getting more and more handy with the puck so it is certainly gonna be interesting to get it off of him. However, there is one thing I’m not so sure about. We barely interacted so far and yet I already want to beat him. Is it the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry that makes me want to beat him so much? But if that’s the case then why do I not want to beat Alexa or Gwendolyn Telenn as much? Just to name two players who also got drafted to Edmonton. I suppose I do see something in him that even I have no idea about yet. Is it his talent or something else? I suppose time will tell. That being said, there is at least one redeeming factor in him. At least he is not Swedish.

While so far I have only been talking about my time in the J, I did have my first season in the SHL. It is certainly not a long time and most of my experience in the SHL is yet to come, I already have a few people with who I have started building a bond. First of all, I certainly have to mention Ellie Williams who was the one drafting me to Calgary. Granted she didn’t yet have the same impact the „Chief” had on me -she didn’t even have enough time for that so would be quite unfair to judge her for that- she already placed quite the trust in me which I’m very grateful for. Of course, I had no idea of that at the time of my draft, I later learned just how much Calgary traded to get the pick with which they have acquired my services. So yes, that alone makes me forever grateful for them because they saw something in me that some might have not seen in me. Of course, that wasn’t the only positive interaction I had with Ellie since. Much like the Chief she also helped me quite a lot and she too became someone I can rely on and go to if I have something on my mind. So I can only hope that one day I will be able to repay her kindness and her trust. Until then, I will be working my ass off.

With all that being said, my J career was in the end quite a pleasant experience. Sure we had our heartbreaks in the playoffs we were a strong team for three seasons out of which, we won the regular season 3 times, and at long last we won what matters the most, the four-star cup in my final season. Which in more than one way was a make-it-or-break season for many of us. As such I still remember the joy I felt when we finally won the Cup that eluded us for so long. And I’m sure I won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.

As for my first season in the SHL, I must admit I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I did quite well for a rookie and managed to hit most of the goals I had set for myself before the season. Which of course makes me quite happy. However on the other hand I once again had this late-season slumber where my form just dips which is something I desperately want to fix. And on top of the fact I was in front of my sister in points for most of the season only to once again finish behind her hit quite hard, I must admit… Nevertheless, there is no point in being all sad about how the season ended. I much rather focus on how well I did all things considered and of course, I would much rather focus on the future. Now that I’m in Calgary it’s time to put this team back to where it belongs and get one on Edmonton. After all, we gotta show who’s the better team out of the two of them.

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