Stalwart Swedish defenseman Mattias Norstrom has built a tough-as-nails reputation.

Norstrom wants to build
positive memories
By Doug Ward | NHL.com correspondent
Feb. 13, 2006

When he's not busy knocking opponents down, hard-hitting Swedish defenseman Mattias Norstrom likes to build things up. Norstrom is an amateur carpenter who rebuilt his summer home in Sweden with his own two hands a couple summers ago.

"We had a small cottage before we bought our house," Norstrom says. "We gutted the whole house, put new roofing on, drywall inside, hardwood floors, did the kitchen, the bathroom. The only thing I don't do is the electricity, the plumbing, and the tile setting. I left that up to the professional."

In his own realm, be it on the ice or in the locker room, Norstrom is typically the one referred to as "the professional." In addition to rebuilding houses, Norstrom is also in the business of building hockey memories. But the one that remains from Salt Lake City is strictly a teardown.

The Stockholm native and his Team Sweden teammates freely admit their 4-3 quarterfinal loss to Belarus at the Salt Lake City Games is one memory they would like have imploded in order to build a new one from the ground up.

Fair or not, for Team Sweden, part of these Olympics will be about living down that epic upset loss. The 2002 loss to Belarus turned on a 70-foot shot by Vladimir Kopat that deflected off the head of Sweden goaltender Tommy Salo and into the net with just 2:24 left in the game. Back home, the headlines screamed "Sweden's worst-ever Olympic fiasco."

Norstrom pulls no punches in his own assessment of the collapse.

"At the Olympics in Salt Lake City," Norstrom shrugs, "we had a disappointing loss against Belarus. That was a team we should beat nine out of 10 times, but we didn't. It was a dark day."

Norstrom believes better days are ahead. At 34, he admits this will likely be his last Olympics and, after going home empty handed from both Salt Lake City and Nagano, he and his teammates have some unfinished business to take care of.

"This my last shot to win a gold medal," Norstrom says. "Winning gold for Sweden is all that matters."

Although this is the world's most important hockey tournament, Norstrom says part of his approach to any game, be it exhibition or Olympic, is repetition.

"I have to approach every game exactly the same way and everything becomes a routine," he says. "That's my way to get ready."

Still, Norstrom won't deny the fact that the Olympics are special. Although it's his third trip to an Olympiad, he's treating it as if it's his first.

"The Olympic experience will be great," he says. "I'll stay in the Olympic Village and get to meet all the athletes from all the different sports."

Norstrom is a strong defender and an intimidating presence on the Sweden blue line.

When the other athletes meet Norstrom, they'll be getting acquainted with one of the NHL's most reliable stay-at-home defenseman, someone who isn't afraid to use his chiseled 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame to dish out a little physical punishment. With just 13 goals and 136 points over the course of his 11-year career, it's clear Norstrom is taking care of things in his own end.

Norstrom has appeared in two NHL All-Star games and serves as captain of the Kings. Still, the best line on his resume might be the personal reference from Kings coach Andy Murray.

"We like to think Mattias Norstrom is everything an L.A. Kings' player should be," Murray says. For two weeks in Italy, Norstrom will be everything a Team Sweden player should be, too.

Although the durable Norstrom (he's appeared in 73-or-more games seven times) has spent all but 43 of his 739 NHL games with the Kings, he says he learned a lot by spending part of this rookie season with the New York Rangers.

As fate would have it, Norstrom's first NHL season was the Rangers' most memorable one.

"I signed in 1993-94," Norstrom says, "so I had the privilege to be around during the playoffs and be around the team the last part of the season when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. I didn't play any games in the playoffs in '94, but I learned so much from being around the Rangers during their Cup run. It taught me so much about what it takes to win."

In Salt Lake City, it took a crushing loss to teach Team Sweden learned a painful lesson. Maybe Torino will be the place where the Swedes can use that experience as a foundation on which to create something positive. In Norstrom, they have a player with the perfect skill set to help them build something special.