Photo: Bildbyrån / Youtube
Peter Forsberg had difficulty with nervousness at the beginning of his career.
Then he was forced into a strange food trick.
– I knew it would go to the forest otherwise, he says.
According to many experts and hockey lovers, Peter Forsberg is our greatest hockey player of all time. Foppa won two Stanley Cup titles and has one of the most powerful points in NHL history, and he also reaped enormous success with Tre Kronor.
Problems with nervousness
Foppa had everything he needed to do in the world’s best hockey league, and it’s hard to imagine that he might actually have been nervous at some point during his career. He ran over most of his opponents, and was really a beast on the ice. But at the beginning of his career, it was different, at least in his preparations.
Peter Forsberg has told, in a conversation with Arne Hegerfors, that he had major problems with nervousness at the beginning of his career, especially when he was still playing in the SHL.
– I was very nervous before the matches. If we had an away match, if we met good teams like Malmö or Färjestad, then they probably had to stuff Imodium in the morning. I was very nervous, he says.
Unusual food trick
Foppa was so nervous that it affected him negatively during the match days – so he came up with a clever, but a bit unconventional, trick.
– At that time, because I was so nervous and lost a lot of energy, I had to eat around half past ten in the evenings. Then I had to chew fish the day before to get energy in me. I knew it would go to the forest otherwise, and that I would have no energy, just because I got so nervous, he says.
Foppa also had a style of play that made him lose a lot of energy.
– I played quite carelessly at that time as well. It was probably some vet who got quite upset with me, so I had to fight in one and another match. So it was hard matches for me, I could not go out and hide right away. There was always a fight, with everyone, even with Loob, who was my idol. When I came out on the ice, it did not matter.
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