Sigurdsson Reveals All

[bluesfan55 103]

Recently, Ice Hockey Iceland's Gylfi Finnbogason got a chance to sit down with Arnor Sigurdsson, right winger for the Riga Reign of the Victory Hockey League, before the regular season started. This is a transcript of it.

 

IHI: Hello, Arnor. Welcome back to Iceland!

 

AS: Thanks! I'm happy to be back home during the offseason to practice and visit old friends. 

 

IHI: Your rookie season was, in your words from a previous interview, very disappointing. Can you take us through why so people who don't know are in the loop?

 

AS: Yeah, I went into the season knowing that I was going to be up full-time in the VHL instead of playing in the minors, and I knew I wasn't going to be getting a lot of time. I was a rookie and there were much better players on the team at my position, so I knew ice-time was going to be limited. But I was expecting more time, to be honest. I finished second last on the team in time on ice with a paltry 11.48 minutes per game. Do I blame that on why I didn't produce as much? Not at all. I went from being the guy in juniors to being a bit part player on a playoff team. But I do feel like if I was given more time on the ice, I could prove more to the team and management. I mean, they picked me 9th overall over players like Jet Jaguar and Apollo Hackett (a teammate of mine). You'd expect me to be able to repay them with a great rookie season. And I wasn't.

 

IHI: Any path to more ice time that you probably had is gone now, with the Reign acquiring Pat Svoboda and Elias Dahlberg. Have you talked to the GM about possible 2nd line time?

 

AS: Yes. I made it clear that I wanted to play some second line time this season. My hope is to achieve that. Dahlberg and Svoboda are top line guys, and I'm not. But Mikko Aaltonen stands in my way. Now, I love Mikko. He's a fantastic teammate and a great player who's poised to break out with the Reign. I hopefully will provided if I get the time I want. 

 

IHI: What would you describe this next season as?

 

AS: Make or break. I know that if I don't do well this season and don't get the ice time that I feel like I deserve, it might be time to go elsewhere. I don't want to, as I like playing in Riga. We have a great young team and I get along well with most, if not all, of my teammates. But, I've heard that some other teams, New York especially, might've been interested in trading for me. But my main preference would to be to stay in Riga. I've settled down here, I'm learning the language, the food is good, and the locals are nice. Not to mention that taxes are pretty nice and everything is fairly cheap. Riga's like a second home to me now, and I'd be pretty sad to leave it.

 

IHI: Thanks for your time today, Arnor. It was interesting to learn more about your time with Riga so far.

 

AS: Thanks, always a pleasure!

[Banackock 8,160]

@bluesfan55 Hope this season is different for you. Good luck