Possible Icelandic Expansion?

[bluesfan55 103]

Rumors coming out of the VHL office state that there is a chance that Iceland will be considered for an expansion team. Many fans are shocked by this news, and see it unfathomable that a country like Iceland, which doesn’t seem like a hockey country, may get an expansion team when countries like Sweden, Russia, and Austria, all of which are considered top tier hockey nations with solid national teams, do not have VHL teams. But when you think about it, this move may make sense. Currently, there are three players in the VHL or VHLM from Iceland: promising 17 year old right winger Arnor Sigurdsson of the Ottawa Lynx, 25 year old VHL free agent right winger Oskar Ingolfsson, and 25 year old Calgary Wranglers defenseman Johannes Vihjalmsson. Looking at these players, you may think: “Woah, these guys aren’t very good.”. However, Vihjalmsson is a fairly active defenseman, and Sigurdsson’s been claiming as much TPE as possible over the past couple days, when he declared for the VHLM and signed for the Lynx. Ingolfsson, however, is an inactive winger who also happens to be the oldest Icelander currently playing (well, not really, he’s a free agent). So now you’re thinking “Well, maybe Iceland isn’t that bad at this hockey thing.”. Now, here’s where we drop the bombshell. There’s an Icelandic player in the VHL Hall of Fame. What? Yes, Iceland boasts a player in the Victory Hockey League Hall of Fame. Well, who is this guy? His name is Grimm Jonsson. Jonsson was a 6’3” center from Akureyri who, in his best season, scored 132 points. He finished his career with a grand total of 807 points in 576 games, and won many awards during his illustrious career. In fact, Grimm is known as a legend with the New York Americans, having been the first VHL player EVER to hit 1000 TPE. And his mere presence helped inspire Icelanders to pick up the sport. “Grimm Jonsson was a legend,” said Sigurdsson. “He was my favorite VHL player ever, and someone I grew up emulating. I wanted to be him someday.” In fact, Jonsson is a huge supporter of VHL expansion into Iceland. “Expansion into Iceland would help get more kids in Iceland interested in hockey, which isn’t the first sport in Iceland. That’s football. If the VHL put enough money into the team as well, maybe the team could help train young Icelanders about hockey, and help them learn about the history of the sport.” Sigurdsson agrees. “Iceland doesn’t have a lot of top-notch hockey academies, and even though I love my country, I feel like I couldn’t fully develop my skills there. That’s why I went to Sweden. They have better facilities. A VHL team coming to Iceland could possibly bring those top coaches and better academies to Iceland, searching for the next Grimm Jonsson.”. According to those rumors, the team will be named the Iceland Gyrfalcons after the Icelandic national animal, and will split its home games between Akureyri, where they will play in the Grimm Jonsson Arena, and Reykjavik, where games will take place at Ice Rink Laugardalur. Icelandic fans are hoping that the team isn’t a rumor, and that they will bring pride to a country that might just become the next hockey power. 

[diamond_ace 3,114]

It's interesting that the portal correctly shows Oskar Ingolfsson, who would be retired if the member behind him (Meg) had still been around for the full 8 seasons rather than going inactive, but you missed both of Vilhjalmsson's brothers, Jonas and Jakub (who would definitely still be under 8 seasons) because no one ever bothered to fix them after the portal made everyone Canadian. They're also Icelandic. @Shaka @Týr and @MWHazard created at the same time and made triplets, but MWHazard was the only one to earn enough to make it into the bigs.

[bluesfan55 103]

1 hour ago, diamond_ace said:

It's interesting that the portal correctly shows Oskar Ingolfsson, who would be retired if the member behind him (Meg) had still been around for the full 8 seasons rather than going inactive, but you missed both of Vilhjalmsson's brothers, Jonas and Jakub (who would definitely still be under 8 seasons) because no one ever bothered to fix them after the portal made everyone Canadian. They're also Icelandic. @Shaka @Týr and @MWHazard created at the same time and made triplets, but MWHazard was the only one to earn enough to make it into the bigs.

I never knew that! Thanks for pointing it out