http://www.expressen.se/1.2420180
Tre Kronor-star: "Did some partying"
He was Tre Kronor best players in the Czech Hockey Games and has a strong season in St.. Louis Blues in the NHL behind him.
But just a year ago, Patrik Berglund where about to jeopardize his career.
In a long, frank interview with SPORT-Expressen tells 22-year-old of the season when the parties, poor diet and lack of sleep was about to destroy everything.
It ended up that he got fined by the club, was forced to apologize for the team and was placed in the stands.
- I enjoyed too much of life.
In the summer of 2008, Patrik Berglund, 20, Västerås.
He left the league for the NHL - and there was a tremendous success. 21 goals, 26 assists. Patrik Berglund hade 47 points as a rookie and won St. Louis Blues internal plus / minus-compatible.
- It was a year when I shot the puck and it went in. Going from the second league in swden and make 21 goals in the NHL, it was great.
- But then of course came the "flop" season, "Berglund says and falls silent for a while.
We will return to season two in a minute. For all really began in the summer in between.
"It felt comfortable"
Patrik Berglund is in the first three seasons in the NHL earned around 7.8 million dollars per year. So it was a nouveau riche, young guy who came home to his friends in Västerås with the knowledge that in a year he had become a star in the NHL.
- I went from Vik to the NHL and scored so many points. Rookie Success and rookie all star team, all that kind of stuff. And it was the first time they he was making big money.
Tell me about the summer.
- I was back home two months in Vasteras. And yes, it was just a great time.
No serious training. We hung out with friends all the time. Nothing worked.
You enjoying life?
- Yes, I enjoyed life. It is a good expression.
Was it due to your athletic success and money you suddenly had?
- Both. It was as probably both. It was like i where flyin on clouds.
I thought if I had made 21 goals this season and would make 30 the next. But I did no-thing about it. And I was paying for that all season ...
Back in St. Louis Berglund began practicing with the team's fitness coach. Then came an unpleasant sensation creeping.
- In Vasteras, I would not miss training sessions, but I had not trained hard. Not max.
- I knew immediately when I came back to St. Louis I was not physically fit. Then I started to get worried.
Did you have gained weight over the summer?
- Not so much, but in the wrong places. You should go up in muscle mass and reduce their body fat. I grew nothing in muscle mass.
- I think even if I'll be honest, I was less well trained after the summer than I was when I arrived as a rookie to St. Louis.
"We were like toddlers"
But despite that feeling Berglund describes, it was not there and then he stopped and tried to find the right way back.
No, the season fell on the same track with teammate and good friend TJ Oshie.
- We did not act as true professionals. We were like toddlers. We didnt eaat good , we did not go to bed when we should. Things that are so important at this level. Everything was wrong.
How much alcohol was it?
- It was a new world. I was curious about everything and wanted to enjoy it all. So yes, there was a lot of partying this year.
Patrik Berglund's second season in the NHL was anything but successful. Points remained at 26 (13 goals and 13 assists) and he had to sit in the stands about a dozen matches, although he was neither damaged or diseased.
Something that was very hard to Berglund and his confidence fell to the floor.
- To go from the first year - to that. It was like jumping off a cliff. I lost my confidence.
It all culminated at the end of the season when Berglund overslept for a practice.
- I got a day's wages in fines and had to stand and apologize to the whole team, and have a meeting with GM (general manager), the president and the coaches.
Trained all summer
There and then i made uo my mind for the first time.
- I never thought something like that would happen to me. Then I woke up to. I only played two games of the season because of an injury, then I went home to Västerås.
- I was home for five days in Sweden.
I think I'll start over and give myself a chance to come back and be the player I can be. The next day I booked the trip back to St. Louis and left five days later.
A whole summer trained Patrik Berglund rock hard with the club's fitness coach and was in top form before this past season.
- It was a very big difference in form, yes.
22 goals, 30 assists - a total of 52 points for Berglund season three in the NHL.
- You can have many people telling you what to do and what not to do. But it is only when you really discover yourself what you must do - that's when you can change things. That was what happened to me. And when I came to believe,
Patrik Berglund was Tre Kronor best players in the Czech Hockey Games, as the center between Martin Thörnberg and Magnus Svensson Paajarvi.
Only 22 years old, he is one of the team's key players in the hunt for a new World Championship gold.
How much have you evolved as a person during these two years?
- I have matured . The more experience you get, the more you learn. I have become two years older, simply.
