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Rookie Of The Year
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 314
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why I changed my mind about liking Tomas Holmstrom
Please bear with me, ok, as I explain why I, previously a enemy, hockey wise, of Tomas Holmstrom, now grew to actually love him and think he is a beautiful man one to be admired.
It was Garb and Hooon, mostly , who urged me to look into Holmstrom and find out more about him. Weeks ago, I viciously condemmed Holmstrom, as I did for 11 years, as do most people who’s first favorite team is not the Wings. But you urged me to find out more, and both of you, being so nice and friendly to me, made me want to look up more.
What changed my mind? You did. All of you. But my research changed my mind most of all.
So here goes. Yes it is a little like an essay but that’s the way I wanted to write this.
“What makes you different, makes you beautiful – whats there inside you shines right to me”
This saying is on my msn . I thought of it because it fits Holmstrom in a way and reminds me of him.
Why?
For years, I have always been interested in people who wish to do something in their lives, something in which all of the odds seem to be against them. However, they succeed because they have a admiring strength of character, tenacity, will, and determination to prove skeptics wrong. They succeed because they have decided that they WILL succeed. They visualize what they want and they go after it with a vengeance.
In my research I found that Holmstrom is such a case. In his youth he wanted to play hockey. But he was always the smallest boy in the neighborhood. IN addition to that, he had limited stickhandling and skating skills. It seemed impossible to believe he could ever make it to the NHL. However, young Tomas wasn’t going to give up. He decided that he WILL in fact play hockey. He decided that he would learn to be a screener. He could use his body well. He could never match the skills of fellow Swedes as say a Sundin or a Zetterberg. But if he could make it as a screener – then he would be doing something equally as important, just in a much different way.
Today Holmstrom is the best screener in the NHL, if not the best one in the world. He has found his niche. Oh, and in addition, he learned he can score goals by creating a havoc in front of the opposing teams net. In this way he could also help his team.
Today Holmstrom has a Olympic gold medal which he won with Sweden in 2006, 3 Stanley Cups (and possibly a fourth).
Not bad for a young fellow people thought couldn’t make it in hockey.
This is one reason I changed my mind about Holmstrom.
The second and equally important reason is this. Holmstrom to me appears to be a pioneer, if not a downright revolutionary, changing people, and the world’s, thinking. For example. The league has its rules in the NHL, and they are telling you to go left, go left, go left. Then Holmstrom came along. And all of a sudden, he is telling everyone that they must turn right. In my research, I came across an article in which Holmstrom said he wasn’t about to change his style of play. Mike Babcock backed him up. “It is not I who must change!” Tomas said. “The league should adapt to me !”
Like many people who are different, Tomas is victimized for his play, such as penalties and disallowed goals on him.
Tomas ‘s style is that he gets in very close to goalies while trying to avoid breaking rules such as going over the crease and interfering with the goalie. He bumps goalies and defencemaen to create havoc and distraction, but he does it gently. He isn’t a dirty player and he has never hurt anyone.. He is crazy disciplined, not fighting back, letting someone who strikes him take the penalty.
Another reason I love Holmstrom now is due to his work in trying to banish harmful stereotypes. Before Tomas came along, people in the hockey world (and who knows, maybe people outside the hockey world as well) had a stereotyped idea of what kind of players come out of Sweden. If Swedish were a race instead of a nationality, those stereotypes would in my mind be onsidered racist. People expected Swedes like a Zetterberg or a Sundin. They did not think of any Swede performing like Tomas has done. Tomas has changed all that. And revolutionized people’s thinking, helping to banish harmful stereotypes.
It reminds me of the saying that is well known: “The reasonable person adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable person persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable person.”
Tomas has also offered his time for charity, he will be playing in the friendly game where the Red Wings play firefighters and all proceeds go towards helping people who have Muscular Dystrophy (a geneticallyacquired disorder for which there is no cure)
Tomas really came through for the Red Wings last night (game five of the SCF) He created the screen in front of the Fleury net and he was really the hero for helping his team back from the 2 – 0 deficit they faced. He did this for both of the Detroit goals (one by Helm and one by Datsyuk)
If it was up to me I would have made him the third star of the game for helping the wings to tie the game from being 2 – 0. It was this which sent the game into overtime and helped his teammates stop stressing and play much better. imo they should have won but for Hudler. Imo Holmstrom is very underrated. He is great, but no one gives him anything, no stars, mostly penalties and disallowed goals. Screeners aren’t really noticed for having this kind of talent.
So I have learned that Tomas truly is one of a kind, one to hang onto, a beautiful man who is doing so much to help change people’s old ways of thinking and to help make the world a better place.
~ careyprice31 ~
Last edited by careyprice31 : 06-03-2008 at 10:04 AM.
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why I changed my mind about liking Tomas Holmstrom
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