Niklas Kronwall spoke with Hockeybladet.nu’s Piotr Arvidsson regarding his imminent All-Star Game to be held to benefit Jarfalla HC on Friday, August 10th:
NIKLAS KRONWALL: “I’m forever grateful to my mother team.”
Friday is a special day for Detroit star Niklas Kronwall. In Jarfalla it’s become a bit of a tradition. When Niklas, along with a bunch of NHL pros, will invite the Kronwall Stars to play a game against his mother team, Jarfalla HC.
The 10th of August is time for this year’s edition of the Kronwall Stars game, where Detroit star Niklas Kronwall, along with a bunch of NHL pros, will play a game against his old mother team, Jarfalla HC. Together with the protagonist, you’ll find stars like Marcus Kruger, Gabriel Landeskog, Alexander Wennberg, Rickard Rakell, Carl Dahlstrom, Fredrik Claesson, Erik Gustafsson, Joakim Nordstrom, Patrik Hornqvist and the Kempe brothers. The arrangement that has free entry to the game means a lot to Kronwall.
“It’s always a special day. I think that it’s one of a few places where we’ve managed to accomplish such a thing. The young people aroun Stockholm can come and see and meet their idols on the spot and see them on the ice. It’s not often that young people have the opportunity to see this.”
Forever grateful to the mother team
The event, which has free admission, has many activities like lotteries, jumping, face painting, a fire brigade, soccer, speed shooting, sniping and much more has been going on since 2000. Kronwall himself is forever grateful to his mother team, Jarfalla HC, which organizes the event annually.
“My mother team is where it all started, and I’m forever grateful for the opportunities I received when I was growing up. With everything, from training, to coaches, and so on. I received all the possibilities I could imagine, and so this is a small way to give something back to them.”
Niklas also points out how grateful he is that so many of his peers in the NHL take time to show up at the event:
“There will be some World Championship gold and Stanley Cup winners in place. I’m very grateful that they chose to make time for this. Of course, it means a lot to me. It’s usually a very fun day with nice weather, and so on, so I’m very grateful that they come out and play this game with me.”
Begins to see the end of his career
Niklas Kronwall, who’s in the last phase of a successful career, recalls how he, as a youngster, thought it was awesome to meet established stars. Now it’s the younger generation that captures Kronwall’s interest.
“You don’t think the same as you did when you were younger after the game and who you played against. Now it’s up to you to think it’s so cool that the younger generation is coming. How fast they are and skilled at even 18 years of age. They’ve taken the game to an entirely new level, which is awesome.”
Is it harder to make your famous “Kronwalled” hits these days?
“Ha ha, yes, it is, and I’m very concerned that I’m too slow. The guys are waking up nowadays, too. So it’s rare to find them showing up in the same place,” Niklas Kronwall concludes, with a laugh.
