Joacim Eriksson got used to shutouts last season when he broke ex-NHLer Ed Belfour’s one season shutout record for Leksand in Allsvenskan. Last night it was time for Eriksson’s first shutout in Elitserien, when he stopped all 31 shots against the Frölunda Indians.
“Great”, Eriksson says. “Truly, truly great to get the first shutout in Elitserien.”
“First and foremost, it was important that we won. Then, of course it’s wonderful to get the shutout.”
“It was important to prepare yourself as well as possible. It has an effect to eat right, sleep and rest.”
“It all felt perfect.”
Eriksson was steady from start to finish.
“Once you get confidence and it starts going well, you don’t think about it that much. Then you just go out there and do the dance.”
“I thought we played well and better than they did. We used our chances and we’re good at what we do. I think we worked much harder than they did.”
But the shutout didn’t come for free and Eriksson shares the honor with his teammates.”I thought there were many chances that were very dangerous. But in the end it went well. The longer the game went on, the more secure I felt myself.”
“We’ve become better at our transition game and we’re being more careful. Both, defensemen and forwards help out a lot.”
“Jocke was very good in goal”, teammate Jimmie Ericsson praises. “This was the best game I’ve seen from him. He was magical.”
“It’s very good for him to get the shutout”, says coach Anders Forsberg. “He’s a highly skilled goalie who’s going to grow well in the Elitserien environment.”
Forsberg has a problem in his hands with two great goalies. He calls it a “delicious” one to have.
“It’s a delicious problem. I try to play them every other game, but when I turn into a coward I tend to play either one two games in a row.”
“We have two very, very good goalies, so both must get ice time.”
“I think it’s good that there’s competition for both me and Hade”, Eriksson says, referring to fellow goalie Andreas Hadelöv. Hadelöv has started 12 games so far, Eriksson 8.
“You just have to take that chance when you get it. If you don’t get to play, you just have to work even harder.”
“National team is my goal. You have to play well every game, but I’m going to work real hard to achieve that. We have many national team players on this team here and it’s important to be able to challenge the best all the time.”
“We’re one of the top teams, and when things work out, it looks as good as it did last night.”
This report was based off of Swedish-language stories in the publications Expressen, Norran and hockeysverige.
