Hammer Time, Carlshamn Style

We were up bright and early to load up the team's charter bus for the 90 minute ride to the city of Karlshamn to play the Carlshamn Oakleaves. No, I don't really know why the city is spelled with a "K" and the team starts with a "C".

Hässleholm Hurricanes (1-3)

at

Carlshamn Oakleaves (0-5)

Speaking of helmets . . .

One of the green and gold Oakleaves apparently played for the silver and blue Karlskrona Seahawks sometime in the past but once you buy a helmet that fits you, you really should not let go of it or change its appearance.

The Lilja Brothers

Multi-pierced TE Hampus and WR/FS Alexander

Martin Andrä was sky high for the game!

Ingemar Olofsson gets his arm up

rushing the Carlshamn QB

FIRST QUARTER:

Carlshamn was on offense first but OLB Rasmus Grip intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards for a Canes TD. Pär Danielsson kicked the PAT, Hässleholm takes a quick lead 7-0.

CB Marcus Linderoth picks off another Oakleaves' pass.

QB Kalle Nordström, who forgot to bring his cleats to the game, hits WR Philip Jensen with a 23 yard TD pass, the PAT is not successful but the Canes are up 13-0.

Rasmus Grip intercepts his second pass of the game as he wrestles the ball away from the Oakleaves receiver.

Another Nordström to Jensen TD pass for Hässleholm, this one covers 8 yards. The PAT attempt is again unsuccessful, Canes up 19-0.

#1 Philip Jensen returning a Kickoff

SECOND QUARTER:

Carlshamn's drive that started at the end of the first quarter ends with a 27 yard scoring pass, their two point PAT attempt is good, the Canes' lead is cut to 19-8.

The Canes turn the ball over on downs.

Carlshamn punts.

Nordström throws his third TD pass of the day covering 80 yards to Pär Danielsson. The PAT fails again, Hurricane lead increases to 25-8.

The Oakleaves punt.

The Hurricanes run the clock out at halftime leading 25-8.

Canes Cheerleaders going wild at halftime

#13 Pär Danielsson on the Belly Counter

THIRD QUARTER:

Hässleholm turns the ball over on downs.

FS Alexander Lilja intercepts an Oakleaves pass, the fourth interception on the day for the Canes!

Tim Eriksson romps 27 yards for another Hurricane TD, the PAT is good. Hurricanes are in cruise control, up 32-8.

The Oakleaves punt.

Hässleholm punts as the third quarter comes to a close leading 32-8.

#21 Tim Eriksson's TD run

FOURTH QUARTER:

The Oakleaves punt.

The Canes turn the ball over on downs.

Henrik Andersson intercepts the Oakleaves QB's pass and returns it 8 yards.

Pär Danielsson has a fine cut back TD run from 15 yards out, he adds the PAT and now the Hurricanes lead 39-8.

Marcus Linderoth intercepts another pass and returns it 10 yards.

Hässleholm punts.

Linderoth intercepts his third pass of the game and the seventh interception by Hässleholm today, returning it a yard.

Linus Johnsson runs 6 yards for a TD, the PAT is no good. Hurricanes extend their lead to 45-8.

Carlshamn punts on what turns out to be the last play of the game.

FINAL SCORE

Hässleholm 45 - Carlshamn 8

Fives for Everybody

Good team effort today as the defense played very well again and QB Kalle Nordström enjoyed, by far, his best game of the season.

Inspirational post-game words

from Jonas Grip

SAFF WEEK #6 RESULTS

SAFF Division I Södra

Because of Oskarshamn's decision to forfeit their game to us last week, the Dockers have been thrown out of Division I Södra for the rest of the 2010 season. All of their first four game results no longer count in the standings.

WEEK #6 RESULTS:

Hässleholm 45 - Carlshamn 8

Ekeby 14 - Limhamn 14

Ystad 28 - Lugi 6

Kristianstad - BYE

SAFF DIVISION I SÖDRA STANDINGS

Kristianstad C4 Lions 4-0

Ystad Rockets 4-1

Lugi Vikings 3-2

Limhamm Griffins 2-1-1

Hässleholm Hurricanes 2-3

Ekeby Greys 1-3-1

Carlshamn Oakleaves 0-6

WEEK #7 GAMES:

Saturday, June 19

Ystad (4-1) at Ekeby (1-3-1)

Lugi (3-2) at Limhamn (2-1-1)

Sunday, June 20

Kristianstad (4-0) at Hässleholm (2-3)

Carlshamn (0-6) - BYE

THE ELEPHANTS ARE GOING

TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!

A GREAT day for Catania as they finally beat Bergamo for the first time in franchise history! The Italian Super Bowl is in two weeks in neutral Milan as the Elephants face a rematch with the Parma Panthers.

I hope Catania coach Mel Galli enjoys his one day, unlimited mileage, use of the team's Ferrari as his reward for beating the Lions. It's in the contract Mel, read the fine print.

IFL SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:

Catania 27 - Bergamo 14

Parma 21 - Bolzano 20

IFL SUPER BOWL GAME:

Saturday, June 26 in Milan

#1 seed Catania (8-1) vs. #2 seed Parma (8-1)

In Week #11 Catania beat Parma 51-30

Laurie Invades Scandanavia

FRIDAY

Mr. and Mrs. Peppe Strano

photo by Jason Johnson

Be sure to click on Jason Johnson's blog to the left of this post to get a taste of the real life Sicilian wedding of Peppe and Valeria on Friday.

GREAT JOB as always by JTwice!!!

Meanwhile, back in Skåne . . .

Graduates continue to revel!

At about 8:30 a.m., this group of whistle blowing hooligans strolled past my window excited as could be about their graduation. Note the traditional white sea captain's hats that are all the rage for seniors at this happy time in their lives.

As for me, it was time to take the 90 minute train to Copenhagen once again but this time with a serious goal in mind, meeting Laurie at Kastrup Airport for the start of her Scandanavian Summer.

But first . . .

Denmark's National Museum

This museum, which is free to the public, starts with the Stone Age and continues through everything Danish until modern times. It is quite extensive and very informative with its excellent English descriptions.

The Bronze Age "Chariot of the Sun"

To Scandanavians in general this mysterious Sun thing has been a source of great religious significance and wonder that to this day still includes the wild Mid-Summer Festival coming up on June 25th.

What says Scandanavia more

than a good Viking Helmet

Lur Horns

The Lur is a curvy, trombone-like horn that was used to call warriors to battle or to religious processions.

Just a cool recreation of

an ancient Viking symbol

The Gundestrup Cauldron

It was found in a peat bog in 1891, is believed to have been a sacrifice to the gods and was probably war booty from some far off land.

The Claw

No, not the infamous "German Claw" used many a time to subdue my sons during wrestling matches as they were growing up. This is the hind limb of the dragon that St. George is slaying in this wooden carving.

"Be careful with that thing Ralphie,

you'll poke your eye out!"

I've got to get a good drinking horn

At one point I thought I was in Mexico
shopping with Laurie and Koreen

How did they do this over 1,000 years ago?

19th Century Danish men

certainly knew their hats!

Once I finished seeing this fantastic museum, it was time to get us registered at our floating Hotel CPH Living before Laurie's plane landed.

The white Hotel CPH Living on the right

We were assigned room #6, the one in the lower right corner in this picture.

The view from our room

Cool lights in the Hotel's lobby

Now that the room was secured, it was on to the airport.

Old country icons die hard it seems

Laurie's plane from London landed

one minute early!

THERE SHE IS!

My God, she IS travelling light!!!

A quick train ride into Copenhagen plus a wee stretch of the legs to the hotel and we were ready to do some sight seeing.

Hans Christian Andersen, Laurie

and Tivoli Gardens

The winner of today's

Copenhagen Pancake (Crepe) Cookoff

Laurie opted for a pastrami pancake and I went with the basic ham and cheese. Either one was worthy of the blue ribbon.

Laurie and her cherries

We bought a ceramic replica of these
exact three Nyhavn Canal buildings

Nordic Laurie

On the Nyhavn

Tired from her flying half way around the world, we decided to call it a night . . .

but only after a dessert Belgian waffle.

SATURDAY

We decided to walk along the harbor on our way to the 40 year old hippie commune of Christiania.

For Sale, CHEAP!

Bad Man Street?

Welcome back to the '60s

What the . . .

Laurie in Wonderland

After our short stay in Christiania, we stumbled upon small flea market full of Danish treasures like . . .

This brass blow torch

We bought a few trinkets, no, not the blow torch and then it was off to view . . .

Christiansborg Palace's

Royal Reception Rooms

Guard Duty can be rough at these Danish Palaces.

Blue Booties

A must in the still active Royal Palace, peasants can be so dirty at times.

The Hall of Giants

Holding up a Palace on your back can be so stressful after a few years.

Modern tapestries depicting 1,000 years of Danish history

Danish Architecture is so pleasing to the eye

Laurie outside of Tivoli Gardens

We bought tickets to one of my favorite Jazz singers, Diana Krall's July 6th concert at Tivoli Gardens.

Lunch at Copenhagen's Hard Rock Café

Some of the customers were of great interest to say the least.

It was now time to board the train to whisk Laurie off to wonders of Hässleholm.

Game Day on tomorrow at the home of the 0-5 Carlshamn Oakleaves, wish us luck!

Peppe and Valeria, 100 Days

A WEDDING DAY

Peppe Strano and Valeria Guglielmino

at the Rose Bowl for the

2008 Season Opener, Tennessee at UCLA

Peppe, a TE for the Catania Elephants, and Valeria were two of our favorite people we met in our two years coaching in Catania. In the Fall of 2008, they came out for a West Coast tour of the United States and spent a couple of nights at our home in Camarillo.

Italian Pre-Game Meal at the D'Antuono's

We joined Mike and Susan D'Antuono for a pre-game meal at their home in Altadena before we all cruised down to the Rose Bowl together for the overtime thriller that UCLA won 27-24.

Friday, in THE BIG EVENT of the 2010 Sicilian Social Calendar, this fun couple is getting married! Our committments to the Hurricanes won't allow us to attend the ceremony but we wish them the very best, they deserve it!!!

The Camarillo Outlet Mall

By the time they left us their entire rental car was packed solid with their purchases from two exhausting days of shopping at our local Outlet Mall. What can we possibly get them for a wedding present that they didn't already buy in those two days?

100 DAYS

I left California exactly 100 days ago today. I have met so many wonderful people here in Sweden and have seen so many amazing castles, cities and natural wonders in Denmark, Norway and Sweden that I just have to shake my head and realize how lucky I am to be a Hurricane! That being said,

LAURIE ARRIVES IN COPENHAGEN TOMORROW!!!

Electric Morning

SAFF DIVISION I RANKINGS

The Hurricanes are ranked 18th this week but we have played the 7th toughest scedule so far according to this poll. Things don't get easier as we still have two games to play against current #1 Kristianstad.

Today started out simple enough, it was Laundry Day and I had a little more to wash than normal due to Mike and Vanessa's linens and towels. Between loads of laundry in the basement, I started to tidy up and vacuum because of Laurie's imminent arrival.

That's when the day got interesting.

Apparently, I overloaded the power strip, as I had the TV, DVD player (Sherlock Holmes) and vacuum cleaner all going at the same time.

Is it bad when when smokes billows out of an electrical socket in Sweden?

My intuition said "JA!" I pulled the plug out of the socket, quickly the smoke stopped and everything was back to normal.

Fortunately for me, Simon Viklund was picking me up to go to lunch and, based upon his expert inspection of the situation, it was decided that the old power strip had died a painful death. All that was needed was to go shopping for a new one.

Dashing Bon Vivant

Henning Hammarqvist

Johan and Henning came over in the afternoon for coffee and some kiwi fruit. It gave me a chance to return Johan's Road Atlas of Sweden that we used last Friday on our enjoyable drive through greater Skåne.

Dead Tree Sculpture

I decided to walk into a northern part of Hässleholm after Henning and Johan departed, an area that I had not previously explored when I ran into this tree.

Again, I really like this idea of turning a dead tree into a work of art rather than cutting it down completely.

A New Park

I stumbled upon this lush park near the Hospital and our own Göingevallen Stadium.

Then it was into the woods

Past the Hospital and our Stadium, I entered a wooded that we had driven past many times but that I had never explored on foot.

Until today.

Hässleholm's Water Tower

Johan Persson showed me the path to this impressive structure last night after practice. It sits on top of a large wooded hill and can only be seen from a few limited street level spots in town because of the surrounding trees.

Unless you walk up a steep hillside.

LAURIE ARRIVES IN COPENHAGEN

IN ONLY TWO MORE DAYS!!!

More Juniors

Tuesday was a day to re-energize myself between Mike and Vanessa's departure yesterday and Laurie's arrival this Friday.

I used the solitude to read more of book #5 in the Detective Kurt Wallander mystery series, do some marketing and start cleaning the flat to get it closer to Laurie's meticulous standards.

Junior Team Recruiting Continues

We had 11 Juniors at practice tonight, a seasonal high. Many of these raw recruits are from the one day camp we put on at T-4 school a few weeks ago.

Of note tonight were two first timers in red on the left of the back row.

On the far left is Maron Zeiden. He is a good athlete who is the son of Emilio Zeiden, the local shoe repairman and key maker. I went into Emilio's shop last week to get a second set of flat keys made for Vanessa last week and Laurie the rest of the summer. Maron was in the shop with his Dad and I strongly suggested he come and try our unique sport. He showed up tonight and looked very good as a receiver.

Next to Maron is Viktor Svensson from our T-4 Camp. Viktor is just a natural talent as a linebacker.

The future is bright for the 'Canes.

LAURIE ARRIVES IN JUST THREE DAYS!