Their Firsts

We shouldn't get too deep into any sort of team analysis when a team is just five games into a season as the sample size is just way too small for any sort of breakdown or comprehensive review. What I do know is that Leksands IF in the SDHL is playing fairly well despite missing out on a few wins early in their campaign. Led by former Mount Royal Cougars coach Jordan Colliton, Leksands is showing some cohesiveness and solid play as they come together in Colliton's systems. While the wins haven't materialized, there seemed to be a better-than-good chance for Leksands to snap the four-game losing skid they started the season with five days ago when they visitied Linköping to play Linköping HC last Wednesday.

Linköping had hosted Brynäs IF one day earlier, but no one is here to make excuses for teams bein tired or worn out or anything like that. After all, it's early in the season, the engines should be full, and fatigue shouldn't be setting in yet. After falling 2-1 to Brynäs for the second time in seven days, Leksands IF skated into Saab Arena looking to make that one-game losing streak into a two-gamer.

The first period went by without any scoring by Linköping did lead 3-2 in trips to the penalty box through the opening frame. Despite having three penalties, Linköping only surrendered 1:21 of actual shorthanded time thanks to an untimely too-many-players penalty taken by Leksands. This may have been why the shot totals for both teams were low at 4-2 in favour of Leksands through 20 minutes as the defence was solid and neither side had many odd-player rushes.

That changed in the second period, though, as Linköping was whistled for another penalty and that's where we'd get our first "first"!
Anna Purschke, as she did so many times with Mount Royal in showing her stickhandling and control, picked up the puck in the corner, skated it to the top of the zone while fighting off a defender, dropped it to Annika Fazokas at the top, and Fazokas' high shot beat Ebba Svensson Träff for the power-play goal to make it 1-0 for Leksands just 2:28 into the middle frame. However, that was also Anna Purschke's first professional point in her career, so congratulations, Anna, on earning that accolade!

Before we go on, Anna was such a good player in her time in Canada West, and I'm so happy she finally got one of those firsts under her belt. I know she puts pressure on herself to be a leader, score for her team, and be defensive responsibly, but getting that point should boost any confidence that may have been eroding and erase any doubts that she may not be right for professional hockey in Sweden. Anna's a damned good player, and I'm so glad she picked up her first point in what should be a long and prosperous career!

Late in the second period, Leksands would increase their lead when Hana Haasova scored at even-strength with 1:15 to play to put Leksands up 2-0. While the increasing the lead was important, perhaps more importantly was the work done the penalty-killers for Leksands who killed off two consecutive penalties over a six-minute span midway through the period before a third penalty was negated by a Linköping infraction 14 seconds into the penalty-killing situation. As such, the 2-0 score stood for Leksands after 40 minutes of play despite being outshot 11-10 over that time.

The third period saw Leksands kill off two more penalties to maintain their two-goal lead, and Linköping decided to go for broke by pulling Svensson Träff for the final 3:10 of the game. Leksands would weather the storm despite a few frantic moments, and the horn sounded on a 2-0 shutout win of Linköping on the road for Leksands IF's first win of the season! More importantly, the win would be the first for both Anna Purschke and had coach Jordan Colliton at the professional level as the two former Mount Royal Cougars launched that gorilla off their backs!

Remember what I said about no excuses about fatigue? Well, Leksands IF continued their road trip the next day against Djurgårdens IF. Djurgårdens had lost 5-3 to Brynäs IF on Ocotber 8 - the same night that Leksands beat Linköping - so could we see Leksands catch another team after a loss to Brynäs the night before? That answer, unfortunately, was no as Djurgårdens hung a 4-1 loss on Leksands.

As it stands, Leksands IF will return home to host HV71 on Saturday after HV71 plays Brynäs IF on Friday. HV71 is still seeing their first regulation win of the season, and we still have not seen former Huskies scoring sensation Danielle Stone in the lineup for HV71. If Leksands can play well once again, we might be talking about a second win for them on Sunday morning. Couple that with a win against winless Göteborg HC on Sunday, and Leksands could be right back in the mix with Linköping and SDE for a top-six finish!

HBIC is a firm believer of not putting the cart before the horse, though, so Leksands will still need to put the work in to get the results they want. However, getting a few big "firsts" in two people's professional careers - first point and first win for Anna while Jordan gets her first win as a head coach - is always something to celebrate here on HBIC after watching these two have immensely successful careers on the Canada West circuit for so long.

Congratulations, Anna and Jordan, and we'll be cheering for you here on HBIC!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!