Name: Kasper Hoffmann
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Location: København (Copenhagen), Denmark.
Education: Social Scientist
Occupation: Researcher
Favorite TV show:Simpsons, Casper og Mandrilaftalen (surreal Danish comedy-show highly recommendable if you can find sub-titles), Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Favorite Book(s) or Author(s): Too many to list. I make a living of reading books... But if I had to choose three it would be
The Order of Things by Michel Foucault (French philosopher-dude), The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche (You know the mad German philosopher who was so badly abused by the Nazi's ...I know it sounds pretentious, but it is nevertheless correct) and, finally,
The Savage Mind by Claude-Lévi-Strauss (French anthropologist).
Favorite Av: Paul Statsny.
Favorite Ex-Av:Peter Forsberg, no competition.
Favorite non-Av:Alexander Ovechkin.
Next or other favorite team:In order of priority: Swedish National Team, Danish National Team (this might seem odd or unpatriotic since I am Danish, but we never used to play against each other and the Danish team was not interesting, however, when the Danish team suddenly became a regular in the A-group I found out that it was more important to me that Sweden won than Denmark staying in group A), MODO in SEL. None in the NHL.
How else is hockey in your life?:I follow the sport passionately, but mainly the Avs. In the period between 1997 and 1999, when I was in the beginning of my studies I would characterise myself, along with a couple of my friends as addicts of the EA sports hockey games. We played perhaps in the vicinity of 8 to 10 hours a day in certain periods... (I once had Patrick Roy on top of the assists column at the end of the season, I had developed a technique of scoring which started with the outlet pass of the goalie). The last 7-8 years I didn't play that much, though, and I dare not by a Playstation or a 360 as I am afraid it could seriously jeopardize my career (no joke). Other than that I play in ESPN's Fantasy Hockey leagues which I am quite successful at because I tend to work as methodically with gathering information about players as I do in my job...Kinda sad really, but it just gives me tremendous pleasure to play Fantasy Hockey - can help it, the drug thing you know
Favorite Av moment:Peter Forsberg scoring on a break-away against the Read Wings in the 1999 Western Conference Semifinals with Igor Larionov draped on his back. So funny and awesome at the same time.
How and when did you become an Av fan?: Really, my interest in the NHL started in 1996 when I bought the EA Sports NHL 97 with Vanbiesbrouck on the cover (at least in Europe). Once it was time for me to decide which team to choose I picked Colorado because Forsberg was on the team. I was tempted by picking Toronto because Sundin played there, but having seen Foppa score that unreal career-defining goal against Corey Cross and Canada in the Final in the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, I knew the Avs were my team. After this revelation that I shared with a small group of friends some of us decided to go out and get cable televiosn so that we could follow NHL on screen. It was another revelation, we liked it so much we would meet up at midnight and watch hockey i from midnight to early morning if the games would drag out (you know time difference); it was great! Growing up in Denmark in the 80s one is not spoiled with Hockey on TV. Except every year in May during the World Cup, where I could watch it on Swedish television. I did that and was absolutely fascinated by it, and since it was on Swedish television I quickly developed sympathy for the Swedish team and their style of play. I absolutely detested the Soviets (at the time they were still part of the magery of the enemy - children pick that up directly you know), but even more the Checkoslovakians because I thought that they were playing unfairly (or maybe I was told so by the Swedish commentators), and I will not even mention the Finns (They were the Dallars Stars of my child-hood
). Perhaps it was because the Swedes would often battle the Checkoslovakians and the Finns for bronze and silver I developed this bias against their hockey-teams, the Soviets were just too damn good and in a league of their own. I think that hockey such as it was played by the Soviets in their glory days was poetry in motion. From the point of view aesthetics nothing comes even close...except, of course, Peter Forsberg, Alex Tanguay and Milan Hejduk on the same line...
So there you have it. By the way I carry no lingering feelings of antipathy for any of the just mentioned teams...except, of course, the Dallars Stars. Speaking of which...
LEAST favorite Av moment: The non-signing of Peter Forsberg
. I don't care what anybody says about him, that he is washed up, that he is injury-prone, that he is old, that the cap situation that followed in the wake of the new CBA forced management to not tender him a decent offer. You don't let a guy like that go. Period. And the addition of ten Pierre Turgeon's does not balance the loss of Forsberg
, although I actually think the subtraction of ten Patrice Brisebois' might
. I have to list the ousting of the Avs at the hands of the Stars in 2000, at the same level. I will never forgive the stars for man-handling the Avs and the sport by killing everything that is great about hockey when they beat the Avs in 7 that year I still have physical and mental scars.
Position: I have never played hockey, but I have played floorball (center and defence) which is a sort of indoor hockey, but I am too busy these day to do anything serious about it.
Glad to join the forum.
Peace, Love and Hockey...
