PHOTO: TT News Agency
During Dick Axelsson’s upbringing, there were many great hockey players.
But one he looked up to a little extra.
– He was the biggest at the time, says Axelsson to Sportbibeln.
Dick Axelsson, 36, rose to a high profile in Swedish hockey. With games in Frölunda, Färjestad and Djurgården, among others, the Stockholmer has stood out with his honest and outspoken personality.
Soccer vs hockey
Axelsson began his career in Mälarhöjden/Bredäng Hockey, before taking the step to Huddinge Hockey. There, Dick went all the way from U16 to play in the first team in the Hockeyallsvenskan in four years, which was the start of his hockey career.
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But it was not always obvious to Axelsson that it would be a bet on hockey. In his younger days he also played football.
– I think I was better at football than I was at hockey at the time when you had to choose. In those days, you could choose a little later than today, so I was doing quite a lot, Dick tells Sportbibeln.
Axelsson’s idol
It was a small detail that made it a bet on hockey instead of football.
– As I said, I think I was much, much better at football, but I was a centre-back. And that’s what made me choose hockey, because I thought it was fun to score goals. I guess I’ll have to go to bed tonight and think about whether I really made the right choice… says Axelsson.
Yes, center backs make pretty good money now too.
– Yes exactly! It’s a slightly nicer climate too, and I’m a life connoisseur. So football would probably have been the best.
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Although he played many sports and activities growing up, there were still a couple of hockey players that Dick looked up to a little extra. But it is neither any of the icons Nicklas Lidström or Mats Sundin on which the choice falls.
– I had enough like everyone else, Peter Forsberg. Then I’ve always liked it Henrik Zetterberg also. But “Foppa” was probably the biggest at the time, when I was little.
Why did Foppa become the idol?
– I think because everyone else had it. A classic fear of conflict and what everyone else had, I also ran on, says Axelsson.
READ MORE: Dick Axelsson’s adamant criticism of Swedish hockey today – slaughters the SHL completely: “It has completely disappeared”
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