About broken bones and travelling the world

Henrik Ivarsson has broken his jaw, his thumb three times, his ankle, his collarbone, a couple of ribs and has had several concussions. Ice hockey has shaped his life and body.

“I am a shy and gentle person – but the opposite on the ice” Henrik says.
When his Blue Tounges team mate, best friend and flat mate André Selander hears the description he laughs, obviously disagreeing.
“He is a guy who always speaks his mind. Sometimes it is good, sometimes not. A good guy”. André says.

They share a flat in Broadbeach and try to have as many Aussie barbeques as possible on their little piece of grass. Henrik has fallen in love with the no worries attitude of the Gold Coast and the amazing scenery. But above all he likes the climate, which is far from the Swedish rain and cold he has grown up with.
“I love it, I´ll probably stay forever.” he says.

Ice hockey has been in Henrik’s family for generations, though today he can beat both his dad and granddad in a race for the puck. He also played soccer for years and went to a special high school for athletes. The idea of going professional was an ever present dream.

Ice hockey has taken him from the Swedish west coast city of Gothenburg, where he was born, to Holland, the USA and Australia. He is now waiting to see what the future holds.
“It has taught me a lot about the world. I have met lots of different cultures and learnt how different people from different places work.” Henrik says.

Last season, in the northern hemisphere, Henrik started out by playing for the Arizona Sundogs in the Central Hockey League, but later got traded to New Mexico Scorpions. Only a few weeks into the season, the financial recession struck the Scorpions and they went broke. Henrik went home, only to leave for Australia and the Blue Tongues a few weeks later.

He has found ice hockey to be on a lower level down-under, but is enjoying the experience.
“It is more fun off the ice. A better social life. I have always dreamt of seeing Sydney and on our first away weekend we went on a tour of the city. And I have never painted my own locker room and put the netting on our own goalsposts before.” he says and laughs while cleaning crumbs off the kitchen bench.

André Selander about Henrik

Henrik is a skilled player with good hands, a good shot and he is a good skater. He can see the game good.