Saskatoon AGM picked as GM for Team Europe in the WJC, short bio [1/2]

[Elmebeck 378]

Pär-Mårten Elmebeck, AGM Saskatoon Wild, GM Team Europe S68

Each morning he gets up Pär-Mårten dies a little. Can barely stand on his feet, takes a look in the mirror and cries.

He works hard every day of his life, works 'til he aches in his bones, at the end of the day he takes home his hard earned pay all on his own. Get down on his knees and starts to pray... 'til the tears runs down from his eyes. Says, "Lord, somebody, ooh somebody! Please, can anybody find me somebody to score?"

Hockey has become his vocation and refuge from the burning loneliness.

PM, as he is called by the team and friends, had a late start coaching, only starting when his first son joined the local little league team in rural Sweden where they were living. As Fredrik Elmebeck got better, and PM's other sons also started playing, he kept pace with his sons, taking the coaching and everyday running of the clubs evermore serious.

Stuck on a farm in the middle of Sweden and only small, non-professional teams, in the vicinity and his wife leaving him for a chimney sweeper, he brought his two sons to Västerås (the clearly best team if compared to Malmö) to give his gifted sons a better chance at growing in hockey and hopefully become professionals.

After winning several lower league cups with the Västerås youth team, he moved up with his son Fredrik to the Swedish Hockey League and managed to win three years in a row, first two as Assistant GM and the third as GM proper. His life would be dominated by his son though, following him wherever he went. So when Fredrik got contracted by Houston Bulls under @FrostBeard he immediately started looking for positions in North America.

For S68 an opportunity at Saskatoon Wild opened up, and PM immediately jumped on the opportunity, calling @Peace to see what the prolific GM would need from him. Peace seemed to like the eagerness to learn and took on the aging, but successful GM from Sweden as assistant.

As his latest laurel, on advice from his Saskatoon-GM and with broad support from both players and other GM's, he applied for leading Team Europe in the World Junior Championships. As staff he took on two untested, but veteran players, that were looking to possibly go into management after their playing careers were over, in @Tate and @Steve. And a board of advisors lead by @Esso2264 and @Peace.
 

The next weeks will tell whether his and his teams' success in North America continues or not.

We watch the shows, we watch the stars
On TV for hours and hours
We hardly need to use our ears
How hockey changes through the years
 

Let's hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around 'cause we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this slashing
 

You had your time, you had the power
You've yet to have your finest hour
Hockey (hockey)
-- Freddie Quicksilver, Six Offenders bowler, avid hockey and P-M Elmebeck fan under Cricket Commissioner @berocka

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Elmebeck

[KC15 340]

Review:  Love the beginning with PM down on his knees in desperation - to find out it's about needing a scorer rather than some fatal disease he fighting.  And his wife leaving him for all things - a chimney sweeper - is a gem.