Honor to whom honor is due. 40-year-old Greg Mauldin and 23-year-old Thomas Berg-Paulsen were the two players who remained on the ice the longest after Tuesday’s training. Not because they are poorly trained, quite the opposite. The duo are perhaps the Fjordkraft league’s best-trained players, and are central to Oilers coach Todd Bjorkstrand’s most trusted line-up over the past year.
The eagerness to get better. The shot that will sit. The elements that train the reflexes. The Oilers duo makes sure all the details are in place. In addition, they are physical monsters.
The semi-finals against Sparta are just an obstacle for them, because they want to go big. Both won their first gold with the Oilers last season, and have put in no less to try and replicate their performances from last season.
Those left behind are the ones who can win for the Oilers.
— Kristoffer Knutsen
At the same time, it is a cross of thought that the two were allowed to have the entire ice in DNB Arena alone. Of course, the players are tired towards the end of the season, and the vast majority of them naturally have some injuries that bother them, but the morale of those who sacrifice a little extra after training in March is a value that cannot be measured in skills.
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Those are the players who win gold, even if the environment may call them boring due to the fact that they don’t necessarily care that much about what people think of the presentation of the performance.
The third last player of was André Bjelland Strandborg. His development is a consequence of what he does.
Those players are part of the two ranks that have been permanent in the Oilers recently (Greg Mauldin/Thomas Berg-Paulsen/Tommy Kristiansen and Ludvig Hoff/André Bjelland Strandborg/Christoffer Karlsen). Several of the players who roll between different ranks stood on the ice for a little while after training and played a return game on one goal.
Now it must be said that the Oilers have a hard training day for all players, but self-effort is not only the effort made in training. It is also everything that is laid down outside.
Those left behind are the ones who can win for the Oilers.
That’s just how it is.
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