Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT, Chris O’Meara/AP/TT
Fredrik Modin’s track record is absolutely incredible, yet the former NHL star and Three Kronor hero’s career is often forgotten because he never got the biggest headlines.
Now the 50-year-old tells how he lives his life today.
– There is no talk of the family being rooted in the USA, especially our children, he says to Sundsvalls Tidning.
Only nine Swedish hockey players of all time are in the so-called triple gold club. One of those who won WC gold (1998) and Olympic gold (2006) with Tre Kronor as well as the Stanley Cup, with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, is Fredrik Modin. Last week he turned 50, which was celebrated at home in Columbus, Ohio.
Stayed with the family in the USA
After more than 900 NHL games, Modin ended his career in 2011. By then he had time to represent Timrå, Brynäs, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Trashers and Calgary Flames.
When the skates were on the shelf, the family chose to remain in the United States. They had lived there for 14 years and the children Jesper and Ida had grown up there. It became natural to stay in Columbus. 13 years after Fredrik Modin retired from hockey, he lives a completely different life.
– I am a full-time pensioner. I don’t really do much, I don’t work. Then I have some hobbies I do, meet friends and hang out. I am also somewhat involved in charity projects with the clubs I previously represented and try to have some projects of my own. It feels like it’s busy, but in reality it might not be. In any case, I enjoy being a full-time pensioner very well, he says to Sundsvalls Tidning.
READ MORE: Fredrik Modin left ice hockey completely and hasn’t touched the grills for several years – this is what his beautiful life looks like today
Haven’t lived in Sweden for 28 years
If you disregard the lock out season 2004/2005, when Modin played in Timrå, he has not lived at home in Sweden since 1996. Then the moving load went from Gävle to Toronto. But he always returns to Njurunda, south of Sundsvall, every summer. His brother Anders lives there and the ice rink in the area is named after the two great hockey players who come from there: Modin and the Zetterberg hall. He says it will always be his home.
– It has become a little less in recent years, partly because of covid and partly because our two children are now in college and starting to enter adult life. After all, they no longer have any summer holidays and we target them primarily. But this summer it was pretty good with time, then we were at home for two months, he says.
The future, however, is uncertain for Fredrik and the family. He is used to moving around and doesn’t rule anything out. They have a house in Columbus, a summer house in Florida and one in Njurunda. It remains to be seen where the “pensioner” and his wife were Wind takes root in the future.
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– We have learned that things can happen and turn around very quickly. We don’t have a five-year plan or anything, but we take things as they play out. But there is no question that the family is rooted in the United States, especially our children. Then of course we miss Sweden, above all our friends and families, but we do have the summers. So far it has also worked very well, he says.
Exciting to hear about what life looks like for triple gold winner Fredrik Modin. There seems to be no need for him and his family in the United States.
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