Jönsson barely made it to the stands from the courtship on the ice, where he received flowers from both teams and the players celebrated by hitting the clubs on the ice before Rögle took the lead.
An aggressive home team framed the mood perfectly as Canadian Josh Dickinson, the first new signing of the season, stayed in front and tapped in his second rebound to make it 1-0 and score the first goal for the club.
– A good start because there is a lot of emotion before the first home game. Nice to get it done, says Dickinson who pays tribute to the fans to SVT Sport.
– I had heard well about them, but it was beyond my expectations, he continues.
“Deserved some points”
Frölunda had a massive push to get an equaliser, but Rögle was able to ride out the storm and get three points after 4-3.
– I’m disappointed with the result, but we played a good hockey match at least 45 minutes and deserved a point, says Frölunda’s captain Max Friberg and praises the setting in King Kenny’s match.
– That Rögle wants to pay tribute to me once more is big for me. I was touched when they contacted me and wanted to name the opening game after me, says 49-year-old Jönsson, who played ten seasons in the NHL during the glory days of his career but was raised in Rögle and ended his career in Skåneklubben after a total of nine seasons.
Back colleague between 1991 and 1995, Kari Eloranta, presented a plaque in honor of the day.
Jönsson is one of Swedish ice hockey’s greatest with two Olympic golds and one World Cup gold and inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Hall of Fame.