Friday Night Bandy at Zinkensdamm

On Friday night myself and about 3,000 others braved the sub-freezing temperatures to watch Hammarby (a team here in Stockholm) play Bollnäs in bandy. The game was played at the one bandy rink that is actually in the city of Stockholm and if anything defined being there it was the word cold.

The game itself was a good one, with the team's alternating leads and Hammarby finally winning 5-4 with the last goal coming with only 90 seconds left. I got some footage from the game including a couple of goals and the three Zambonis that are used to clean the ice at half time. The highlight of which is probably a guy behind me yelling "Icing" when Hammarby clears the ball down the ice.

There are two games left in the season before the playoffs start with the finals traditionally being held March 15th in Uppsala.

Russia win bandy World Championships

Russia defeated Sweden in the finals to take home their third straight gold medal, their 5th overall (19th if you include the Soviet teams). The game was all Russia with Sweden unable to really produce any offense. The only really positive thing one could say about the Swedish team, who won the round robin part of the tournament, was that their goalie at least gave them a chance by keeping out as many shots as he did. However, out of the 25+ he faced 6 found the back of the net. Sweden managed only 6 shots and only got one in.

20,000, mostly Russian, fans were in attendance in Moscow to see the game - I on the other hand watched the game in the comfort of my living room (see image). Bandy truly is one of those sports that is nearly impossible to follow live, televised games and a lot of zoom and slow motion is pretty much the only way you'll be able to "see" the whole game.

US wins Group B at Bandy World Championships

The US bandy team completely and utterly dominated Group B in Moscow to win the 2008 World Championships in their bracket. They won all 6 of their games with a total of 65 goals for and only 3 against. That included 3 shutouts, a 17-1 win over Mongolia and 7-1 win over Canada. (The US has never lost to Canada believe it or not.)

Earlier this morning the US team met Belarus in a game that would decide whether or not the two teams would switch groups. A win for the US would put them into Group A amongst the likes of Sweden, Finland and Russia. Unfortunately, despite a great showing in the tournament, this would not be the year. The game, which ended a couple of hours ago, ended 6-4 in favor of Belarus. Congratulations go out to them nonetheless, as well as to Canada who came in second by beating Latvia yesterday on penalty shots.

In Group A, Russia will play Sweden in the finals this afternoon, Finland picked up the bronze beating Kazakhstan earlier today.

The World Championships are held every year, next year's event will be hosted by Sweden.

Bandy World Championships 2008

Although you are probably unaware of it the bandy World Championships are currently underway in Moscow. (To regress, if you are unfamiliar with the sport of bandy see the Wikipedia definition here to answer all of your questions.) The winners of the WC are basically a rotation of Sweden (8), Russia (18) and Finland (1). However, a number of other nations do compete (the event was even held in Roseville, Minnesota in 1995). In this year's competition (besides the big 3) there are the likes of Kazakhstan, Holland, Hungary, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Mongolia, and perennial outsiders the US and Canada.

So far in the tournament (see terrible Russian homepage here for complete results) Sweden is pretty much clobbering everyone, as is Russia, the two will face each other today to find out who doesn't have to play Finland again in the semi-finals. Of the non-indigenous bandy playing countries (Group B) the US and Canada are doing surprisingly well. Canada has beaten Mongolia (6-0), Holland (6-1) and Hungary (10-0). The US has pretty much followed suit Hungary (9-0), Estonia (11-0) and Latvia (11-1). (More info can be found on the respective sites for both teams: usabandy.com and canadabandy.ca. The two will face each other on Friday at 9PM Moscow time which is 8 hours ahead of EST (1PM). I Have my doubts anyone is sending it on TV in the US, but if they are that would definitely be the match to watch for those if you in North America.

The way it works with bandy is that the previous year's WC determines where team's fall for the following year. Group A (the good teams) and Group B (the not so good teams) only meet in one game. That game is played between the winner of the Group B tournament, which is likely to be either the US or Canada this year, against the last place finisher in Group A (most likely Belarus this year). If the Group B team wins then they will be moved to Group A for next year's tournament and have the chance to compete for the World Championships. It would actually be quite cool to see the US or Canada get the honor as I don't think either of them ever has. This particular game is scheduled for 10AM on Sunday.

Complete rundown of games and standings can be found in English here. That is a Swedish site and probably the most informative when it comes to having everything in English.

Now that I have thoroughly confused you...watch some video of the event:
Sweden vs Finland yesterday.

The Sport of Bandy

Imagine if you will hockey played with the same rules as soccer, or for that matter field hockey on ice...well, then you have the sport of bandy. 10 players and a goalie on a rink the size of a soccer field (even played indoors), an orange rubber ball slightly smaller than a tennis ball, and full on helicopter swings with a wooden stick like a hurling club...

Bandy, if you aren't familiar with it, is played across most of northern Europe (Sweden, Finland and Russia imparticuarily) but has roots stemming back hundreds (if not thousands) of years. (More history can be found here. And it is a very interesting read...)

Here in Stockholm we have one bandy rink in the center of town and one team in the top division. Tickets are about ten dollars per game and last about as long as a regular hockey game. This year the NHL will play their first official game in the US outdoors when the Penguins meet the Sabres in the Winter Classic (Ice Bowl). Ironically Stockholm is in danger of losing their one top division team (Hammarby) due to a ruling that teams must have indoor rinks by 2009. Considering what it's like to skate on snow covered ice, let alone compete at an international level at sport on it, one can understand the logic. However, the shear cost of building such a rink is another matter entirely....we shall see what happens.

The following is one of the few examples of the sport you will ever see with English commentary (it's been about a hundred years since it was played in England, and the Minnesota teams don't get on TV too much...unfortunately). Long live "bando".

(Watch the second goal they show scored by Finland, amazing stuff...)