One of Norway's top defenceman internationally for the last several years, Vålerenga Oslo's Alexander Bonsaksen took some time during the most recent IIHF World Championship to talk about what the Champions Hockey League means to his home club and his country.
by Radoslav Vavřina
New tournaments bring new opportunities. That is something hockey fans in five European countries must love as their top teams now get to compete with the best from continent's elite in the newly-formed Champions Hockey League.
Norway is one of those five countries and will have two teams in the CHL, with the Stavanger Oilers qualifying as GET-ligaen champion and Vålerenga Oslo getting in after winning the regular season of the top Norwegian league.
Vålerenga might not have won the playoffs as they got beaten in the finals by the Stavanger Oilers, but when you take a look at the roster of Team Norway at the World Championship in Minsk, Belarus, there was an abundance of players from the capital-based team who were representing their country.
Six players from the team were at the event, including rugged defenceman Alexander Bonsaksen, who calls Oslo his home and has called Vålerenga his team since a very early age. He has played five professional seasons for the team in two stints, in between which he went to play in Sweden.
The 27-year-old blueliner had a great World Championship, usually playing on the second unit with Mats Trygg, one of his Vålerenga teammates, and scored one goal in seven games. Ultimately, though, it wasn't enough to get Team Norway back into the quarterfinals.
"We wanted to be in a different position after the France game, but that didn't happen," Bonsaksen said after they blew a two-goal lead in the meeting with one of the most surprising quarter-finalists of the tournament. "(The previous game) we had a tough battle against the Czechs and lost by one goal. However, I think that the team played well and if we had a little bit more luck, we could have had more points."
He may be right about that, as the only team who managed to beat the Norwegians by more than one goal was Slovakia.
Following the last preliminary round game with Canada, Bonsaksen and the entire national team returned home, where they will eventually start preparing for next season, including the Champions Hockey League in some cases.
"I think it's a good project and now there are teams from new regions," he said, particularly interested that Norway is one of those regions.
Vålerenga will play in Group B along with ZSC Lions Zurich, Färjestad Karlstad and the Vienna Capitals, while Stavanger is in Group E with Tappara Tampere, Oceláři Třinec and SC Bern. Stiff competition, for sure.
"I think it's good that teams from around Europe can play with each other, feel the difference between the leagues and it's also good for guys to get that experience. I mean, not everybody is that lucky to be on the national team," said Bonsaksen, who has been a perennial player for Team Norway, not missing any of last six World Championships.
The 2008-09 GET-ligaen champion, however, might not play in the tournament as his future will be decided after this year's World Championship. He already has experience from Sweden where he played in three SHL seasons and one down in the Allsvenskan.
With or without him, the goal for the Oslo-based club probably won't be winning the entire CHL. "For Vålerenga, it's a totally new experience and there will be no pressure. They're just want to go out there, have fun and try to get some good results," the two-time Olympian explained.