Roger Åkerström (born 5 April 1967) is a Swedish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, currently employed as an assistant

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

with

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening, also known as Luleå Hockey, is a professional ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

(SHL, formerly named Elitserien).

Playing career

Born in

Överkalix Överkalix (; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Överkalix Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 975 inhabitants in 2010. Climate Överkalix has a subarctic climate with significant temperature differences between the ...

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), sometimes called North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...

, Åkerström grew up in

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; ; ) is a Cities in Sweden, city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the County Administrative Boards of Sweden, capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban ...

. He was drafted in the

1988 NHL Entry Draft The 1988 NHL entry draft was the 26th NHL entry draft. It was held at the Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Teemu Selanne, who retired after the 2013–14 season. Selections by round Be ...

in the ninth round as 170th overall by the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

, but he never played a single

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) game. Åkerström played for

in 19 of his professional seasons and won the Swedish Championship with the team in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, scoring the Championship-clinching goal. Åkerström is perhaps best known for being a former record holder as the player with the most

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

games—regulation and playoff games included—with 911 games, 792 of these with Luleå HF. This record, however, was beaten on 22 September 2011 when

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

forward Mikael Håkanson played his 912th Elitserien game. Apart from Luleå HF, Åkerström also played three seasons for

Västerås IK Västerås IK (''Västerås Ishockey klubb'') is a professional ice hockey club from Västerås, Sweden. The team is currently playing in the second-tier league in Sweden, HockeyAllsvenskan. Västerås IK played 12 seasons in the top Swedish leagu ...

in the same league. He also spent one season in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, with the Bolzano-Bozen Foxes of the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

league. Internationally, Åkerström participated at the

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and 1994 World Ice Hockey Championships as a member of Sweden's national team, winning silver and bronze medals. He retired from ice hockey as a player after the 2006–07 season, which he played with

References

External links

* 1967 births Living people Bolzano HC players Luleå HF players Swedish ice hockey defencemen Vancouver Canucks draft picks VIK Västerås HK players Ice hockey people from Luleå Swedish expatriate ice hockey people Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate ice hockey players in Italy {{Sweden-icehockey-player-stub