Gabriel Landeskog was invited to the charity match.
Then he was properly frightened – by Peter Forsberg’s order.
– It was still pretty cool…, he says in the podcast Släpp Sargen.
When Gabriel Landeskog, as the second Swedish team captain ever in the NHL, raised the Stanley Cup trophy this summer, he forever wrote himself into the history books of the Colorado Avalanche. Another Swedish Colorado icon is Peter Forsberg, and of course the two have bumped into each other several times over the years.
Colorado icons
In fact, Gabriel Landeskog actually made his very first Colorado Avalanche game in conjunction with Peter Forsberg’s jersey being hoisted to the ceiling, and jersey number 21 being retired. It was then that they both met for the first time, and some kind of friendship and respect has been formed ever since.
Gabriel Landeskog remembers one incident in particular some time after that Colorado debut.
– I was invited to some charity events in the summers. It was also cool, precisely because there were so many profiles that were there. But the first match was down in Visby, and they had hung up papers with the line-up, he says in the podcast Släpp Sargen.
The words from Foppa
Landeskog remembers the shock he got when he saw who he was written next to.
– It was still a charity match, but I see that I am the first center, and I have never played center in my entire life. On one side I have Peter Forsberg, and on the other Markus Näslund, and I think that someone must be joking with me, he says.
But it was no joke. But at the same time, there was a reason why “Gabbe” was the center next to the legends.
– I go up to Peter, and just: “Is this serious?”. He says: “It will be absolutely perfect. You forecheck, you backcheck, and then you give the puck to us.” Everyone rides around and just chills a bit, and I ride around and sweat and drive and do everything to make sure that Peter and Markus are happy and satisfied. It was quite an awesome experience.
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