The Icelandic teams are preparing for yet another battle for the championship. The defending Champions Skautafélag Reykjavíkur will be challenged by the two other teams in the league; Skautafélag Akureýrar and Björninn. The amount of teams stays thus unchanged but the amount of games per team has been reduced from 20 to 16 in order to create more ice time for junior development and competitions. Youth and junior development has been strengthened by creating a national development program, adopting the IIHF learn to play program and by starting the first coaching clinics. Also some of the most prominent junior players have been sent abroad to gain more skills, competition and experience.

Icelandic league is yet again played with three teams. There have been some thoughts of trying to build a fourth team into the league but at the moment the availability of ice time and the lack of a fourth ice arena has postponed this plan. There are some changes in the teams in terms of export players and player transfers between the clubs, but no new imports will appear in the league this year. Below you can see a short update about the three teams and how the coaches view their current situation.

Skautafelag Akureyrar has a new head coach, Josh Gribben that played with the team last year. He was already involved in the club´s coaching during last season at various levels, but this year he will take full responsibility of the senior team as a player coach. He will also be the head coach for the U20 national team. SA has lost an important player Andri Már Mikaelsson as he is now playing for Mörrum in the Swedish J20 elite league, nevertheless SA will have a nice mixture of young players and more experienced players. SA is known to be a team with high team morale, experienced players and a strong power play. Here are some early season thoughts from the head coach Josh Gribben:

“Skautafelag Akureyrar enters this season with a few major changes taking place over the summer. The departure of a couple of veteran players has made room in the lineup for some younger players to step in and earn a spot on the roster. Brothers Johann and Hilmar Leifson up front at the forward position and Ingolfur Eliasson on the back end at defence, will be expected to contribute in the everyday lineup. Returning players such as national team captain Ingvar Jonsson and veteran forward Sigurdur Sigurdsson will be relied heavily upon for their leadership as Skautefelag Akureyrar looks to become 2010 Icelandic Champions”.

Björninn is the only team never to win an Icelandic Championship. Last year the team had a good season but lacked in the scoring efficiency. This year things ought to be different. Björninn has a wide range of players in the team, an ideal situation for Iceland and it´s hockey in terms of creating competition for spots in the roster. Björninn (The bear) will most definitely be hungry for the championship this season. Björninn’s roster has not changed that much on the paper but most likely the young generation will get more responsibility compared to last season. It is also going to be interesting to see how the young talents Brynjar Bergmann and Steindór Ingason will develop during the season and if they will adjust into playing on a senior team level. Björninn is known for its’ strong defensive attitude and dangerous counter attacks.
A few thoughts from the Björninn head coach Sergei Zak:

“Björninn has become a little bit “older”team this season. More and more players are over 20 years old, which have been in the club for past few years. The group of older or should we say more experienced players consists of forwards like Gunnar Guðmundsson, Hjörtur Geir Björnson, Birgir Hansen, Brynjar Þórðarson, Úlfar Jón Andrésson and couple of Defensmen like Vilhelm Bjarnarsson and Bergur Árni Einarsson. Kópur Guðjónsson, who joined the club again with his come back from Akureyri, has contributed in building a stronger defense in the team this year. There is still some work to be done in order to get the defense on the right level. A few young defensemen like Róbert Freyr Pálsson, Hjalti Geir Friðriksson, Sigursteinn Atli Sighvatsson still need a lot of work to improve their stability. A couple of players came in no physical condition after the summer and are still trying to get into shape. The best young promising forward line at this moment is centered by Matthias Skjöldur Sigurðsson, where Hjörtur Geir and Ólafur Hrafn support him on the wings. Matthias has started a great season for himself and I am sure he will be one of the top players in the team”.

Skautafélag Reykjavíkur the Icelandic champions from last season is the team with probably biggest changes in the roster. Almost the whole second line has disappeared due to the fact that three of the most prominent young forwards have been given a chance to play abroad. Pétur Andreas Maack, Egill Thórmodsson and Tómas Tjörvi Ómarsson now play for the Mörrum jr.20 elite team in Sweden and this has caused a big reconstruction in the SR’s roster. There has been some inflow of players nevertheless. Thórhallur Vidarsson an experienced national team player has returned from one year brake from hockey into the roster and will definitely bring more strength into the team. A former junior goalie from Björninn Daniel freyr Jóhansson has joined SR and earned a spot in the senior team roster. He is looking extremely promising so far in the early season. Also Sindri Már Björnsson an original SR product has returned from his adventures in the red-white jersey in Akureyri and will most certainly bring more strength and speed into the offensive lineup. The team will rely heavily on the last year’s backbone consisting of Gauti Thórmodsson, Arnthór Bjarnason, Steinar Páll Veigarsson, Daniel Kolar and the goalie Aevar Thór Björnsson. Due to the departure of three important players including the top scorer Egill Thórmodsson, others have to step up. There are a bunch of hungry players ready to show their claws on the ice and battle for yet another championship this year.

A few comments from the head coach Richard Tähtinen:

"The fact is that this year there is a different SR entering the ice. Last year we had our difficulties concerning the low experience of most of the players in the team. We overcame that and many of the young players stepped up and developed mentally a great deal. I think that we did a vice choice last year when we put a lot of effort in trying to develop every single player in the team and give as much game experience as possible to a wide range of players during the season. Thus, this year we will gain from this as we have lost 3 important players. New players will be given a bigger responsibility and due to last year they are not entering this challenge with cold feet, so to say. Young players like Jón Reyr Jóhannesson (-94) and òskar Grönholm (-93) will be expected to stabilize their sport in the everyday lineup. I see our goaltending and team unity as the biggest strengths. Our defense and power play will be stronger this season and I believe that these two elements will determine which team wins the championship 2010"

It is going to be interesting to follow how the league will develop during the season; it should be a tight and entertaining hockey year in Iceland.

There is also interesting things happening for Icelanders abroad as an Icelandic “wave” of players is flowing in the Swedish jr. leagues. At the moment 5 young talents are trying their luck in the southern part of Sweden. Björn Róbert Sigurdarsson is the youngest of them, playing for Malmö Redhawks U16 elite team. As mentioned earlier 4 other players were sent abroad as well. Pétur Andreas Maack, Egill Thórmodsson, Tómas Tjörvi Ómarsson and Andri Már Mikaelsson are currently playing for Mörrum GOIS in the Jr.20 elite league. We have started cooperation with Mörrum in order to create more opportunities, experience and motivation for the players in Iceland. It is understandable that the junior development suffers from low competitiveness when there are only 3 teams to compete with and no real hope for further advancement within the sport. With this cooperation we hope to add another level of development into the Icelandic ice hockey.

Due to good results in world championship the past years we see a lot of potential in our youth and understand that the development has to start with our youth programs. The fact that last year we had the youngest senior national team that also reached the best results ever in Icelandic hockey history, hints that we have a new generation of players stepping in. To strengthen the development we have assigned Birgír Örn Sveinsson, the head of youth development in SR, to start our first coaching clinics. He has set up the clinics based on the IIHF learn to play program which sets up a good base for further development.