The Finnish team Espoo Blues are newcomers to the Champions Hockey League. One of the team's backbones for the upcoming season will be their new goalie: a 26-year-old Swede who started last season in Croatia and ended up playing in Hungary.
by Vilja Päätalo
The 2014–15 season did not go as Christian Engstrand had planned. The Linkoping native, who had played for his hometown club his whole life, moved to Croatia to play in the KHL with Medvescak Zagreb. Unfortunately for Engstrand, he was released before the season had even started.
“I learned a lot from that experience,” Engstrand admits. “It wasn't fun to get cut but it was a good lesson for me and it was nice to get to watch for a couple of weeks how things are done in KHL.”
After Zagreb, Engstrand headed back to Sweden to play for AIK Stockholm in the second-tier Allsvenskan but, again, he didn't get to play as much as he wanted to. Luckily, the right team for him was finally found: Alba Volan Szekesfehervar, a Hungarian club that plays in the Austrian EBEL.
“It was very different than Sweden, but everything did work out quite well in the end. The style of play in the EBEL is such that the focus is on the offensive side of the play and there are breakaways all the time. A goalie truly has to constantly stay on top of his game.”
And now Engstrand is in Finland. But why Espoo?
“Why not Espoo?” he responded to the apparently easy question. “It's a great opportunity for me and I've heard lots of good things about the Blues.”
The Blues have also heard good things about Engstrand. When announcing his signing, general manager Peter Ahola stated, “Engstrand is a talented goaltender who has previously proven that he can play in the top league in Sweden. Now he is in a great place to re-establish himself as one of Europe's top goalies.”
Engstrand is currently practicing in his native country Sweden but he has had time to meet the guys in his new team, all of whom he describes as very nice. Their season begins in August with the Champions Hockey League, and Engstand is looking forward to the international games.
“It's going to be interesting. It's always fun to play teams from other countries and see how their rinks and organizations are. I think it's a great thing that clubs have taken the initiative to form the league and I'm glad we are a part of it.”
Engstrand played in the European Trophy three times with Linkoping HC, including 2011 where he backstopped his team to the semi-finals before they fell in a shootout to Red Bull Salzburg in an intense game. From that experience, he knows how much international competition adds to the players' and fans' experience.
“I don't think the games will affect how we play in the Liiga. The only negative thing about the CHL games would be if someone got injured in one of them.”
The Blues will play against Czech champions HC Litvinov and French regular-season winners Grenoble in the CHL's Group 6. They open up at home on 23 August against Litvinov, which could be Engstrand's first meaningful game with his new club. After a difficult last season, he's ready to win.
“I want to get back on the winning path. I want to take my team as far as I can, both in the Liiga and CHL. And win every game I play, of course,” he laughed.