I wasn’t so sure about this World Cup of Hockey. Already we got Marian Hossa bruising his foot (but he’s okay!) and Marcus Kruger dealing with some other kind of injury after one round of warmup games. Not exactly a glorious beginning for Hawks fans.
But then I saw Niklas Hjalmarsson do this to Erik Karlsson during Team Sweden practice and suddenly I am right back on board:
Niklas Hjalmarsson breaking Erik Karlsson’s ankles is EVERYTHING pic.twitter.com/1icN1wB6aG
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) September 9, 2016
Ohhhh yeah that’s the good stuff. This is just a meaningless practice before a meaningless exhibition before an arguably meaningless international tournament, but after a summer of no hockey, watching Hjalmarsson send Karlsson flying is like taking two weeks off from sugar then eating a massive bag of Sour Patch Kids in a single sitting. Or maybe some peanut M&Ms. What I’m saying is I like candy and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
I know the World Cup has its downsides, and I’ll probably completely change my mind if one of the Hawks’ superstars gets hurt, but man, I’m happy hockey is back again. And seeing Hjalmarsson put one of the best players in the league onto the ice with some sweet moves, well, I’m here for that.