Our goal is to maintain the high standards of MODO Hockey in the Swedish Elite series and thereby establish ourselves as one of Europe's leading franchises. This position will be cemented with the help of Örnsköldviks genuine hockey culture and our ambition to always place the training and development of our younger players in the forefront.

Anders Hedberg, Tomas Gradin, Anders Kallur, Bo Berglund, Lars Lindgren, Tomas Jonsson, Lars Molin, Markus Näslund, Peter Forsberg, Niklas Sundström, Anders Eriksson, Mattias Timander, Per Svartvadet, Hans Jonsson, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Samuel Påhlsson and Mattias Karlin. The list of raised NHL players is long and distinguished, an outstanding 25 percent of the Swedish players in the National Hockey League originate from MODO Hockey.

ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden – Over the years, the small town of Örnsköldsvik has sent over two dozen players to the NHL, from homegrown boys like Anders Hedberg and Victor Hedman to players who’ve come to “Ö-vik” to take their game to the next level, like Frantisek Kaberle in the late 1990s, or Mats Zuccarello Aasen ten years later.

But mostly, of course, it was Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund, who really put Ö-vik on the map. Two childhood buddies finishing first and second in the NHL scoring race, like Forsberg and Näslund did in 2003, is as great a story as they come.

Their love for MODO, the town’s club, has been well documented over the years. Forsberg made several comeback attempts with the team, and in 2009, just six months after his retirement from the NHL, Näslund, too, made a comeback in MODO’s sweater – forfeiting his salary – in an attempt to help the team that had won just three of its 20 games that season.

That season, Forsberg collected 30 points in 23 games, Näslund 29 in 29 games, helping MODO win 13 of their last 35 games, and get the team within one point from a playoff berth.

But the club’s trend has been downward since the Swedish championship it won in 2007. It has missed the playoffs the last three seasons, and ended up in the relegation round last year.

No wonder that when Näslund became the GM of the club, and when it was announced that Forsberg would be his assistant, the light at the end of the tunnel began to look a little brighter for MODO fans.

The GM’s first moves also indicated that, from now on, things would be done in a different way in Ö-vik. First Näslund introduced Ulf Samuelsson as the team’s new coach. While born and raised in Sweden, Samuelsson has spent his entire coaching career in North America, with the last five years as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL.

“It’s time for me to take the step to being a head coach. I’ve been an assistant several years now, I’ve gained a lot of experience, and learned a lot in that time,” Samuelsson says.

“I prefer fast-paced hockey with puck control. I also want to see the team play physical and aggressive, yet disciplined hockey,” added Samuelsson, back in his native Sweden after 27 years in North America.

Maybe that’s why Näslund has looked to North American leagues while building his team. He found defenceman Freddy Meyer and forward Rob Schremp from Atlanta’s (Winnipeg) organization, Jonas Ahnelöv from the Phoenix Coyotes farm team in San Antonio, and Hungarian forward Janos Hari from the Quebec junior league.

While Finnish defenceman Joonas Lehtivuori, goaltender Mikael Tellqvist, and forward Dick Axelsson played in European leagues last season – Lehtivuori just the second half – they, too, have experience from North America, Tellqvist having been with the Coyotes a few years together with Samuelsson.

And with the signing of “Robocop” – or maybe now that Samuelsson is back in Sweden, “Tuffe Uffe” – Näslund also got the opportunity to sign Henrik Samuelsson, Ulf’s talented son.

One of the team’s most important players, and characters, is probably somewhere in the back row, minding his own business. Niklas Sundström, once the third part of a record-breaking MODO line at the World U20 Championship.

In 1993, Forsberg, Näslund, and Sundström collected 69 points in seven games. Each of the three went on to have great NHL careers, totaling over 2,500 games in the league, but Sundström was the first one to return to Örnsköldsvik.

Sundström’s a couple of years younger than Forsberg and Näslund, but he’s well aware of the fact that the end of the career is closing in on him as well.

“I’ve thought about it, quite a bit. It’s not on my mind every day, but I know the days get closer. Thinking about it hasn’t helped, it feels just as difficult every time,” he told IIHF.com.

“I really don’t know what I’m going to do after my career. That’s the big step: planning for the future,” he added.

Sundström made his Elitserien debut 20 years ago, in January 1992, in a league that was much different from today’s highly international pro league.

“Things have changed so much. The careers have got longer, partly because players train a little differently, and take better care of themselves, and partly because it’s a pro league now, while in the early 1990s, many players still had day jobs, too. When I came to the league, we didn’t have any 36-year-olds on the team,” he says.

But here he is now, a 36-year-old, albeit boyish-looking, veteran player, who’s expected to bring leadership to the team. In 2009 he collected 53 points in 49 games, finishing fifth in the Elitserien scoring. A year later, injuries kept him out of the lineup for half the season, and his 20 points in 35 games were tenth best on the team. Last year, he bounced back a little – 33 points in 53 games – but the suits upstairs would surely like to see him improve on that, too.

“Things look good, there’s been a lot of changes, but I think we have a great group, a good system, and I’m really looking forward to the season,” he said.

“I think it’s great Peter and Markus are back in Örnsköldsvik to help take MODO back to the top.”

Most of this article originally published at http://IIHF.com