Jaromir Blagr: The Hockey Blog

UAA gets a recruit from Sweden

UAA has received a commitment from recruit Nicolas Erb-Ekholm, a center from Sweden.

Erb-Ekholm, 19, began this season with the NAHL's Janesville Jets, booking 1-5--6 totals and a +3 rating before returning home to play with the under-20 Super Elite League team in his hometown of Malmo. He has one assist in 11 games for that club.

The 6-foot2-, 185-pounder is intriguing simply because he's from Sweden. He made a recruiting visit to Anchorage earlier this season -- Anchorage is roughly the same size city at Malmo.

UAA has a bit of history with Swedes. Nils Backstrom was a reliable defenseman for the Seawolves from 2006-10 and is still playing professionally abroad. Daniel Naslund was a forward with played at UAA from 2009-13. And Thomas Kraft was a blueliner who played at UAA for one season in the mid-90s -- that dude possessed a seriously scary shot. Remember one practice when UAA was working on blocking shots, and, understandably, not many players were jumping into Kraft's shooting lane with conviction.

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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