Hardly Rainbows And Butterflies

As much as I sit here and celebrate the hiring of Canada West players and coaches in the SDHL, there was a report filed by Måns Karlsson on hockeysverige.se today that paints a different picture of how things went with Leksands IF last season. Karlsson's report and interview with head coach Jordan Colliton shows that last season was anything but rainbows and butterflies when it came to Leksands' play. Honestly, maybe I needed to read this account from Colliton to bring things back into perspective about how hard it is to run a professional hockey team. I need to give credit to Jordan Colliton for answering some tough questions.

I don't speak Swedish, so I ran the interview published by Karlsson on hockeysverige.se through Deepl Translate to ensure that I didn't miss anything filed in his report. What follows is a word-for-word translation of Måns Karlsson's report.

Jordan Colliton on the turbulence in Leksand: "Every decision I make is for the good of the team"

Last season was characterized by turbulence, with dissatisfaction in the player group and several players who both left the club and then criticized the management. Now Leksand coach Jordan Colliton responds to the criticism and gives her view on the tumultuous season.

"Change is difficult. In the past, you may have been able to do things and get away with them," says Colliton to hockeysverige.se

Before last season, Jordan Colliton came to Sweden. She was given the task of taking over Leksand IF. But the debut season in Sweden was anything but easy for the Canadian. The team finished sixth and reached the quarterfinals against Djurgården, but the season was marked by internal conflicts and an alleged rift between Colliton and several players.

During the season, Agnez Svensson, Amanda Johansson and Lisa Östrup left Leksand, criticizing the coach.

"I don't think Leksand IF treats people very well," Svensson said.

"It broke down between me and the coaches. In order to be good in your hockey, you have to be able to feel good outside. Even though you shouldn't bring personal things from outside into the ice rink, it still affects you without you thinking about it. That's what I feel the coaches have a little difficulty with, to feel the sympathy, that you may not feel good and feel 100 percent every day. That's where it has been a bit of a problem," said Amanda Johansson.

"I feel that there has not been any good communication at all, unfortunately. It could have been improved a lot," said Lista Östrup in the direction of Colliton.

This week, Leksand's sports director Alexander Bröms gave his view on the situation.

"To be brutally honest, I can question some players from last year: in what workplace is it okay to yell at your boss and throw doors in your boss's face? In which workplace is it okay to go around your boss and try to change clear directives to find an answer that suits you? In what workplace is it okay to whine among your colleagues, day in and day out, trying to turn them against your boss? I think there is so much that some people choose to tell the newspapers and that the newspapers also buy it hook, line and sinker."

"I have no regrets"

The coach who has been at the center of the turbulence, Jordan Colliton, has kept a rather low profile in the media about everything that happened last season. For hockeysverige.se, the 33-year-old coach gives her view on the messy first year in Leksand.

"Changes are difficult. Learning to be uncomfortable and to fail sometimes is difficult. It is what you do after that that will determine if you grow as a team and person," says Colliton in connection with the SDHL's preseason meeting. "We want to be able to keep a more consistent level and not have too high peaks or deep valleys, regardless of what we as a group go through and encounter for challenges. That's an important part of growing, given what we went through last season."

"Changes" is a word Jordan Colliton returns to. She came to Leksand to change the women's business, and that has meant some adjustments that have not been to the liking of all players.

"Alex (Bröms) brought me in with a vision and a goal for the club. I tried to come in and implement things so that we would succeed with it. When you come in and put expectations on players, high expectations on players who maybe haven't had it before... Then it's hard for them to fulfill those expectations even if I thought they could succeed. We want to be a better team. We want to be a top team in the SDHL. Last season was part of the transition to become that - and it will continue this season as well. It's not something that happens overnight."

MK: Are you surprised that not all players wanted to "jump on the bandwagon"?

"You have to give athletes the chance to face their challenges, and maybe I was a bit surprised that not everyone chose to do so. But that's okay. The group of players who remain in Leksand, along with our new acquisitions, want those challenges. They want to become better people and better players. In the end, it will help the club."

MK: You say it's not okay to agree with you...

"Totally!"

MK: ... but are you disappointed that there are players who have spoken in the media and criticized you?

"Not disappointed. Obviously that's how they feel and they have the right to feel the way they do - just like we as a club have the right to move on with other players to achieve our goals."

MK: Can you give examples of what the players have said and done? Alexander Bröms said that doors were slammed shut, and things like that.

"Well... As I said: Changes are difficult. When you try to establish a new behavior and new habits, there can be reactions to it. Reactions that are not okay. In the past, you might have been able to do things and get away with it," says Jordan Colliton. "But it doesn't matter to me. Every decision I make is for the good of the team and how the team is going to move forward. I do it to make the players better players and better people. But in the end, it's up to the athlete themselves. It's their choice, how they respond to it."

MK: Have you learned anything? Do you have any regrets?

"You always learn things, whether it's from a positive or negative experience. If you are not open to learning, as a coach, you will not survive very long. But considering the steps we were able to take last season, I have no regrets. We are on the right path. We are a united team that wants to reach the same goal."

"Then you will never achieve what you want"

Jordan Colliton believes that there is a different profile, a different character, on this year's Leksand edition. She says there are big differences in the squad.

"Yes, especially considering those who have chosen to stay for another season. We did a lot of work last season to change our attitude and become more professional. If you have no expectations of yourself, you always have more to give. If you don't push yourself to do more, or become something more, you will never achieve what you want. You have to think about what you want to achieve, as a player and a team, but also what you are willing to do to get there. The players who chose to stay, who came back for this season, understand that. And the new players who have chosen to come here have done so because they want to be part of an environment where the players think the same way. Because this is how it is: If we're going to be a top team in the SDHL, everyone has to pull in the same direction."

MK: How far have you come? When are you a top team?

"The future will tell," says the Leksand coach with a smile and continues: "I talk a lot with my players about it being a process. It's about having a good daily activity, doing the job every day. There's a quote: 'If you're a dreamer, you've got to be a doer'. You simply have to put in the work every day. Nothing happens from one day to the next. If you only focus on the end result instead of the journey, you will never achieve what you want. However, if you focus on the process and how you want to reach the end result, you are usually in a good place."

MK: So, what are your expectations for the season?

"We are in the middle of that process and it can take as long as it needs to. But I'm really looking forward to the season and I'm excited about the steps we've taken, already in pre-season. I want to keep building something, and achieve more than last year. In my first year here, I managed to set a foundation for what kind of club we want to be on the women's side. Now we will continue with the positive habits and behaviors as a group."

Clearly, Colliton's philosophies didn't line up with every player's philosophy who wore the Leksands jersey last season. As shown above, three players specifically didn't see eye-to-eye with Colliton, but they've moved on from the club for this season. Whether or not Leksands is better will remain to be seen, but it seems like Alex Bröms and Jordan Colliton are in this for better or worse.

Based on Colliton's philosophies, there's also a new leadership group for Leksands that was named today. Anna Purschke will be captain of Leksands IF this season while Ella Albinsson, Taylor Leech, Lore Baudrit, and Emma Polusny will serve as alternates. If Colliton's philosophy and vision are going to find success, this is the group that will help push Leksands to new heights.

"This year's captaincy group brings several different components and perspectives with three of the players remaining from last season and Lore and Taylor being new to the team," Colliton told the media in Sweden. "I believe that these five players possess different types of leadership which is something our group will have the chance to lean on during the season. Everyone in the captain's group represents values that we want our entire team to live by every day."

Colliton knows Purschke extremely well from their time together at Mount Royal University. In regards to her new captain, Colliton said, "In Anna, we have a person who always plays for the team, who is one hundred percent committed to our process and who every day lifts people in her surroundings both on and off the ice. Anna's presence in a group contributes to everyone around her daring to believe in themselves and that they are important to the team. She also takes great responsibility and places high demands on both herself and her teammates. We feel very lucky to have a person like Anna as team captain this season."

She also spoke highly of her alternate captains, two of whom are new to the team. Colliton said of Baudrit and Leech, "With Lore and Taylor we get two different types of leadership. Lore has a lot of experience from SDHL since before and several years of experience from national team play with France. Lore personifies professionalism, something that helps her teammates grow. Taylor is new to the SDHL but is very social and energetic, a person we quickly noticed felt safe in her new environment here in Leksand. Taylor is a great role model for our team with her positive and solution-oriented attitude, something that will help our team grow."

She was also very positive about her returning alternate captains in Albinsson and Polusny, stating, "Ella and Emma are both important voices in the captaincy group and the team. They are two people who care very much about their teammates and what is best for the individual and the team. Both of them compete hard every day and have a strong desire to constantly improve. We should be proud that we have players and people like Emma and Ella representing Leksands IF."

Leksands IF begins its second season under Jordan Colliton at noon on Sunday at home against Djurgården. Leksands finished 20 points back of third-place Djurgården last season, so this will be a good test for the club if they want to convince fans that they are a top-tier team. As Colliton said, becoming one of the better teams in the SDHL won't happen overnight, but having all her players on the same page and competing hard against Djurgården this weekend is a good start.

We'll see how things go at noon on Sunday.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!