Swedish Goaltender Gives UT Ice Hockey a Shot in Net

Axel Aspeborg hails from Stockholm, Sweden and plays perhaps the most important position on the ice for the University of Tampa hockey team; goaltender.

In Sweden, like most northern European countries, hockey has a large following. It should come as no surprise then that Aspeborg was on the ice learning to skate when he was two years old, and began playing hockey when he was six.

“I always wanted to be a goalie. My dad brought home a videotape of the World Cup of Hockey ’96. I thought that was cool,” Aspeborg said. “Curtis Joseph was the reason I started playing goalie. In the video, he was playing for Canada. I tried to model my game after him.”

Aspeborg went on to play for a few teams in Sweden before being forced to quit because of his family’s relocation to Spain.

He continued with his experiences in Spain.

“[In Spain], there’s no interest for hockey at all; everyone’s playing soccer [and] tennis,” he said.

Aspeborg played tennis while in Spain, but hockey was always his first love. Due to what were journalistic intentions, Aspeborg started writing about hockey, namely the New York Rangers, for a Swedish website.

When looking for colleges, Aspeborg applied in cities that had an NHL team.

“I applied here and they were the first one to accept me,” Aspeborg said.

Aspeborg then arrived in Tampa and began writing about the Tampa Bay Lightning as well. Luckily for him, the ice hockey team was forming at UT, giving him an opportunity to pursue his childhood ambition.

“It feels great [to be back on the ice]. I really missed it,” Aspeborg stated. “I didn’t feel like it when I wasn’t playing, but when I got back into it, I feel like I want to practice all the time.”

It wasn’t just an adjustment to being back on the ice after a couple years of not playing. There is also a difference in rink size here in the United States than in Europe.

Here, rink dimensions are built by NHL standards: 200 by 85 feet, with the rounded corners having 28 foot radii. Blue lines are 64 feet from the goal and 50 feet apart.

In Europe, rink dimensions are based off of International Ice Hockey Federation standards: 200 by 98 feet, with the rounded corners having 14 foot radii and 13 feet from the goal.

The difference in dimensions means there is an adjustment when playing here versus in Sweden.

“They always say that when the top prospects come over, they will need time to adjust. You don’t think it’d be that much of a difference but it’s a lot different,” Aspeborg said. “It’s more north-south hockey here, up and down the rink, back home it’s more side to side. People cover the net, block your view a lot more here, try to get deflections. It’s basically nothing like that in Sweden.”

Aspeborg noiticed the tempo of U.S. hockey was much different than that of Sweden.

“I think hockey is faster here. In Sweden, we probably have more room to be really super skilled but I think it’s more offensive here,” he said. The rink size would have a bigger impact on forwards and defensemen though, rather than goaltenders. “It’s a little bit different but it’s not as big a concern. I haven’t played for awhile, so I wouldn’t know how the rinks would have been if I had played in Sweden,” he explained

There are different adjustments for goaltenders to make though. “It’s a lot faster, you have to be more alert, and the guys are closer to the net, trying to deflect, that’s the biggest thing. You have to adjust to them. You can’t be too far away, [but] you can’t be too close or they’ll score,” Aspeborg said.

Head Coach of the UT hockey team, Dr. Kucera, told a story that highlighted another difference between the United States and Sweden’s culture. The players in the U.S. are much larger than the players in Sweden; this is in large part due to the rink dimensions being much smaller allowing for a more aggressive style of play.

“Axel’s in goal, first game against the men’s team. There’s this gruff Irish guy, old time hockey guy [on my team, sitting next to me on the bench]. He looks at Axel, looks at me, looks at Axel, looks back at me — does this three times before saying ‘He looks like Gumby!’ And he does — Axel’s tall and thin,” Kucera said.

“And here’s the difference, being Swedish. I tell him about this on the drive home and he says ‘What’s Gumby?’ and then pulls out his phone to Google it. He comes up with ‘a tall slender rubber man.’ It was hysterical. And Gumby is now my nickname for him.”

April Weiner can be reached at april.weiner@spartans.ut.edu.