Vienna
Time to stop vacationing and get into the World Cup mood again. Back to Kagran with the motorhome, on with the hockeyclothes and into town for continued drinking. It was never difficult to remember the name of the subway station...
RIGHT!!! "Sweden Square". Anyone who has been to Vienna knows that it is on the subway "Schwedenplatz" that the party takes place, and the area itself is called "Bermuda" because "Everything that enters this area perishes" as we were told by the Viennese .
PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!!
Inside Kaktus, it was always us Swedish fans who raised the mood like 1000% when we, like a horde of penniless party-goers, entered this rather quiet pub. Gabbe shows the way and speeds up the spirits of life.
WE WANT TO ORDER THIS MANY BIG LIQUORS THANK YOU!!! Note the record in the background confirming that you have ended up in "Bermuda".
The place the card was taken is obviously "Cactus" where else? Kaktus, which was in the middle of the "Bermuda Triangle" was the place we more or less always went to after the games and it was there that we partied hard and well into the wee hours. Here Johnny in the middle together with the party girls Mia & Mia.
HEEEEEEEYYYY, Macarena!!!
On the right in the picture with his back to the camera we see Bergman from Leksands IF, a real veteran in this industry who has been involved since the 1991 World Championships anyway.
Note that Mia & Mia dance in one direction and Fredner in another.
So typical Fredner - total confusion.
Before SWE-FIN, it was once again time to spread the word that the pre-party was outside at Kagran and the parking lot.
People showed up and we started painting and drinking liquor straight from the bottle. The weather was ok, people were happy and disco music was pumping (well) out of the stereo in the camper.
It was the World Championships at its best!
Gerhard also came by and with him he had a colleague who was more than happy to let himself taste our beer.
Only at the World Cup, this only happens at the World Cup!
Even Maria, the student from Freiburg, decided to stop by the mobile home with her pals to party it up before the match.
Time to head to the arena to defeat the finns. Granted, the crazy partying on the subway continues for us.
To say the train rocked is an understatement.
Here is a picture of the Finnish supporters before the SWE-FIN match. What's so fun about the Finns is the incredibly massive turnout that these people manage to get before all ice hockey internationals. They ALWAYS fill an entire section. Besides, the Finns are always great fun to deal with outside the arena as well. What is remembered from this match was precisely that Sweden's section, which filled half of the short side, looked quite lame.
Ok, sure, maybe there weren't as many of us. But our commitment and willingness to fight was and still is, there's nothing wrong with that! If you look closely, you can also see Muppa in a red hockey shirt on the right in the middle.
Small, good looking, and likes to party. The Swedish fans are cuter than other fans!
The Swedish team enters the arena wearing the blue shirts that seem to be the practice when we meet the Finns. Maria, on the right of the picture, is seen with her girlie friends during the SWE-FIN match
This Norwegian girl woke us up almost every day in the camper after she had dropped the kids off at school (she was an au-pair). She usually complained with ”Holy crap, it really stinks in your mobile home" which we understand.
She was very nice and she even brought us breakfast one morning. And another morning she took us on a guided tour of Vienna.
But why is she wearing Patrik's hockey jersey?
Writing on tits also seems to be an exercise that belongs to the Hockey World Cup. But none of us have seen anything like it either before or after this World Cup, but it's definitely fun stuff in any case.
SWEEEEEEEEEDEN!!! It is important to shout so that you are heard. And we can promise that the Swedish fans are heard!
Swedish commentators Håkan Södergren and P.A. Gullö is a permanent feature of these events and is almost like part of the fixtures, and a Hockey World Championship without these two is not a real World Championship. Nice as hell!