Ludvig Larsson On A Roll With Lone Star Brahmas

Ludvig Larsson has been a shot in the arm for the Lone Star Brahmas since being added to the roster prior to the home opener on October 10. In six games this season Larsson a 5’ 11” and 170 pound forward from Malmo Sweden has nine points. Like Brahmas’ veteran Sebastian Vidmar, Larsson developed his game playing in the Malmo Redhawks organization. Last season with the Redhawks in the J20 SuperElit league he had 22 points in 38 games played.

Larsson comes from a fairly strong hockey pedigree with his older brother Alfred having played two seasons with the USHL Youngstown Phantoms prior to moving to Merrimack College this season. His father Carl-Erik played professionally for 11 seasons in Sweden registering 170 points in 342 games.

Once it became apparent that the Brahmas were interested in bring him to North Texas, Larsson reached out to Vidmar to discuss the franchise and area. “He told me that the Brahmas seem to have a good team for this year and the whole organization was good,” said Larsson. ”He also said that the Dallas area is a nice place to live in.” Ludvig also knew that Anton Santesson, whom he had played against several times, and Oskar Andren were already on the Lone Star roster giving him several countrymen to help with the adjustment to life in America and the American game. ”It’s probably easier to have Swedish guys around me but I like to speak English and try to have good conversations with the Americans to improve my English,” he said. ”But the American guys are very easy to come along with but I have to say that the Swedish guys have better humor!”

”I like to play power play and having the puck as much as possible.”

While Larsson has played only six games in the NAHL so far, he has seen some distinct differences in the way the game is played here on the smaller ice surfaces. “If I compare NAHL to my junior league in Sweden I have to say that the speed and tempo is higher and there is a lot more hits here but the skill level is better in Sweden.” The higher speed fits well with Larsson’s skill set and skating ability. Larsson is a slick skating play maker who works to make his teammates better and has tried to model his game after his two favorite players Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. ”I like to play power play and having the puck as much as possible.” His desire to compete on the power play has been evident with six of his nine points coming with the Brahmas on the man advantage.

To adjust to the smaller rinks, Ludvig has practiced a lot on covering the puck in small areas. Another focus has been to attack the net instead of going to the soft spots which is common for European players. He has also worked to be quicker in small areas and spin away from defenders. This summer Larsson spent his time working on his hands, practicing stick handling five days a week and hitting the gym with his brother. The focus of his weight trainig was targeted mostly at a stronger core and his legs. “’The legs feed the wolves’ did my brother always joke about when it was time to do exercises for the legs,” recalled Larsson.

Like all the European players on the roster, Larsson decided to come to the U.S. for an opportunity to earn an NCAA D-I scholarship. In Sweden players can not play high level hockey and study at the same time. They are forced to choose between school or continuing their hockey careers. It did not take long for his decision to pay dividends as Larsson has signed to play next season with Merrimack College alongside his brother. ”There has always been a competition between me and my brother, but this will be the first time we will play with each other,” he said. ”So it’s a different scenario now. We will keep pushing each other, but instead of competing we will help each other and bring the best out of the Larssons.”

Season	Team	GP	G	A	PIM
2011-12	Malmo J18	25	3	7	2
2012-13	Malmo J18	20	12	12	10
2013-14	Malmo J20	38	5	17	12