The Athletes Podcast
The Athletes Podcast is a leading source of information, inspiration, and education for anyone interested in optimizing physical performance, maintaining good health, and living an active lifestyle. Join David Stark as he interviews some of the world's biggest athletes and fitness professionals, The Athletes Podcast provides practical advice, expert insights, and real-world strategies to help listeners achieve their health and fitness goals.The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire the next generation of athletes!
The Athletes Podcast
The Hybrid Game: Linus Karlsson Talks Hockey & Jeeps
Linus Karlsson joins us from our new Pioneer Auto Group Jeep studio to discuss his hockey journey from Sweden to North America and the challenges of adapting to a different style of play. Linus shares insights about his NHL experience while revealing the mental aspects of professional hockey that fans rarely see.
• Linus discusses his new Jeep from Pioneer Auto Group and how it fits his hockey lifestyle
• Comparison of Swedish versus North American hockey styles - bigger European rinks mean more possession, while smaller North American ice demands physicality
• Growing up in a small Swedish town of just 1,500 people that produced three NHL players
• How Erik Karlsson and Johan Franzen from his hometown became his hockey inspirations
• Reflections on international tournaments and the excitement of seeing national teams compete
• Managing the mental challenges of playing professional hockey in a new country
• Working with a mental coach to handle the ups and downs of NHL/AHL transitions
• The importance of having fun and not rushing development as a young hockey player
• Playing multiple sports growing up, particularly soccer until age 14
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Hey, what's up? Welcome back to the 254th episode of the Athletes Podcast. You'll see we're in a new studio today. That is thanks to Pioneer Chrysler Auto Group here in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Pioneer Aldergrove hooked me up here with this amazing Jeep Plug-in hybrid, if you haven't noticed. It's environmentally friendly. And today's guest was also hooked up with a Jeep Brand new, thanks to Pioneer Auto Group. And today's guest is also hooked up with a Jeep Brand new, thanks to Pioneer Auto Group. And today's guest is Linus Carlson.
Speaker 1:Kind of a big deal in the hockey world. If you folks didn't know, we were at the event with Linus Carlson in person at Pioneer Auto Group Chrysler in Mission, where we witnessed him signing some autographs, getting some pictures with some fans and also we were able to give away a couple tickets for some local hockey specifically, our winner this week was jennifer nitroll. So if you have not yet heard, we will be contacting you, jennifer, and you are the winner of two abbotsford canucks tickets. Thank you for being in attendance and for participating and for you folks watching this show, because that's how we continue to grow the Athletes Podcast. We're at 254 episodes as of now, which is crazy, and you folks have been along for the ride. Let me know down below how long you've actually been watching for. That way, we know who the real fans are of the AP. And for the folks who didn't catch us in person at the event or win the tickets, maybe this is your incentive to pay more attention here on the athletes podcast, as we're going to be doing more giveaways, more ways for you to win cool prizes, connect with cool people and ultimately continue learning, which is what we all ultimately like to do here on the athletes podcast end up performing better. We're here to educate, entertain and inspire. That next, we appreciate you being a part of it.
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Speaker 1:This is the 254th episode of the Athletes Podcast featuring Linus Carlsen. Here we go. You're the most decorated racquetball player in us history, world's strongest man, from childhood passion to professional athlete, eight-time ironman champion. So what was it like making your debut in the nhl? What is your biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes, from underdogs to national champions? This is the athletes where high-performance individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to educate, entertain and inspire the next generation of athletes. Here we go. I almost forget his name. You forget his name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, he's the commentator. He's commentating games, so after games, sometimes you have to do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, some of the requirements right, yeah yeah, is it part of the job? You got to sign autos, you got to take pictures it's fun yo uh, and it is fun right, yeah, it is that's perks of the job? Yeah, not just playing hockey.
Speaker 2:No sometimes you have to do these things, and it's always nice when people come by right, and then you also get hooked up with brand new vehicles. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I really appreciate that. Right, tell me about the Jeep.
Speaker 1:Europe. Oh, we got. They're gonna wash. Thank you, brother. Awesome, awesome. That's the kind of service you get at Pioneer Auto Group. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's really nice. I'm happy that's uh, it was a really good deal that you helped me out with.
Speaker 1:Right, I know where it's. Uh, I'm spoiled. This is my first hybrid ever, is it? And uh, first Jeep Dude, I love it. I can fit all my hockey gear in the back. Oh, that's awesome. I'm a goalie, so you know we're a little crazy sometimes but yeah uh, hey, at least we get hooked up with nice vehicles. What's your favorite part about it?
Speaker 2:uh, I think it's just like it's. It's this big like you can have. Like you I travel a lot and, uh, when you get back from sweden you have a lot, and when you get back from Sweden you have a lot of things to bring to the apartment and stuff, so it's really easy to just put it in there and you can fill it pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's been the biggest adjustment? Playing in Sweden now over here in North America, what changes the most?
Speaker 2:Of course the rink is so much bigger in sweden, or yeah, uh, so like it's kind of different game, like it's more possession in sweden, like it's hard to get stops and, um, it's a little bit more. You can spend more time in the d zone because like it's hard to close the gap and uh, always, like also, the neutral zone is a little bit like smaller so you can here it's harder to make plays, you, you, you have to dump it in more often than in Sweden. You more like possession and try to skate it in right and always the physicality is always so, so, so a big thing, big difference yeah, yeah, yeah, the.
Speaker 1:Uh, I grew up watching, you know. Roberto loango, marcus naslin, the sedine twins. That was like the introduction to swedish hockey for me. What was for you? Who were your inspirations? Who'd you watch growing up?
Speaker 2:uh, eric carlson was uh, he's from my hometown. And also joan franson played for detroit. Yeah, yeah, so those two he's from my hometown. And also Jovan Fransen, who played for Detroit yeah, yeah, so those two are both from my hometown, so I always watch them play. But then you also watch Jesse Deans, you watch Seth Berg. Those guys you watch too when they play for a national team. But if I had to choose players, it's probably France and Erik Karlsson.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tough to beat Erik Karlsson, and when he's got your last name too. Yeah, exactly, we are from a really really small town.
Speaker 2:All of us like I think it's like 1,500 people, and so it's kind of crazy that they have like three inch ellers, yeah, that is wild, yeah, it is so.
Speaker 1:No, of course you look up to them what, uh, what was the the biggest adjustment for you? Obviously you know you come over here to north america, you get drafted. Is there a particular kind of canadian slang that you've been able to get accustomed to, or any favorite words that you like to throw out there? Now you're Swedish friends? No, not really actually not. You didn't hear anything like tell me how that four nations felt, with obviously Sweden being involved. You've got so much history behind those teams. What was it like for you watching it?
Speaker 2:no, it was fun. It's uh, it's always fun to watch the best players, you know, like uh, uh, no, it was. It was like see how fast the game is when all the all the best players in the world. Uh, it was crazy. It was really fun. And uh, yeah, of course, it's uh unlucky for sweden. They didn't make their finals, but uh. But now I think we I would love to see more of those kind of tournaments Like you see the best playing with each other and against each other. So now that it was like I think I really want to see more of that, like the Olympics and stuff. I think that would be crazy.
Speaker 1:So much national pride. It's been bottled up for decades.
Speaker 2:You can see the US ands and canada game. Like the first game, they start fighting each other and it was just like oh right let's go who, uh, who's been the hardest goalie you've ever had to go against?
Speaker 1:oh?
Speaker 2:hardest goalie, that's a good one. Um who do I play against?
Speaker 1:Even in practice.
Speaker 2:Practice, I mean Like there's probably someone over here I played recently, maybe who did I play? I played Edmonton. I played Nashville Jusisaurus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jusisaurus, yeah, good finish.
Speaker 2:I scored my first on him too. That was pretty good.
Speaker 1:I was going to say tell me about that first goal. No one that was. Everyone asked you about it, but no one picking up the puck. What happened there? You give the boys a little heck.
Speaker 2:Hogs told me I asked the ref and he was like he didn't give care. I got the puck and I didn't really care. I didn't even think about it during the game. But I just saw someone tweet about it after and I was like OK, I didn't really care. But then someone just sent me the tweet and I was like OK, but I think the hogster said he tried to, but then he didn't get the puck and yeah, it was just a fun thing yeah no, it was crazy, it was uh.
Speaker 2:I waited for that for a couple games, so it was just like nice to see it go in. Yeah, uh, just to get it done. You know, like you always like wondered when did it happen? Can I just get the first one and then selling it happened get the monkey off the back.
Speaker 1:Alex burrows, pulling out the old arrow, you know exactly no, that's.
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Speaker 1:Let's get back to the episode. The last question, or one of the last questions. I always bring up traveling a bunch. My buddy Kalen did an internship over in Sweden and one of the things he said you know, dealing with mental health, there can be difficulties playing on the ice, ups and downs going between teams. How do you manage that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's hard. That was probably the hardest thing when you came over here. I actually have a mental coach back in Sweden that I talk to a lot and that's like we work with those kind of things. But, and you like, my first year was kind of a bit harder because now you start learning like how to deal with stuff and you know how everything works. Like my first year didn't really know the call-ups, like who gets call-ups, who, how do you, how do you deserve a call-up? Or like now you like you, you know how, like how I need to play to get the call up, you know how things work. But yeah, it's different because everyone in the NHL fights for the same thing.
Speaker 2:Everyone wants to play in the NHL. So it's kind of competition. In practices. It's like every day is a competition like who's going to play up there. Day is a competition like who's gonna play up there. But then also we actually have a really really good group down in Abbotsford, so it's kind of it's really fun to play there too. Like it's not like, oh no, I got sent down. Of course, like you always want to play in the NHL, like you always want to be there and you always get pissed when you get sent down. But we have a really good group down here in Abbotsford too. That's a fun group of guys that I really enjoy to play with too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, you get to drive to the rink in a new Jeep. Your coach is Manny Malhotra. Tell me about Manny, because he was a Canucks legend. There you know.
Speaker 2:No, he's really great. He's intense, like he's. No, I really like Manny. He's a great guy. He played in the NHL, so he knows what everyone's going through and like, yeah, I think he understands you really well. So, no, I'm really enjoying to play under him.
Speaker 1:And where's one place you want to take your brand new Jeep from Pioneer Auto Group? I got to ask.
Speaker 2:Oh I, where do I want to go, like somewhere close to here. Do you mean like wherever, wherever? I would love to take you to Europe, but I probably can't do that. No, because in Europe every country is so close to each other in Europe, so it would be awesome to just drive around there, see a lot of new countries and see a lot of new cities and, yeah, eat a lot of food. Italy is awesome. What's your go-to food Back in Sweden?
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you had one dish what would you eat?
Speaker 2:It's kind of like the pizzas in Sweden is kind of different from here. Okay, how so? That's like we have like the like. Do you know gyros, or what do you call it Gyros? Yeah, yeah, we have that on the pizza and like a really nice sauce. That's like called kebab pizza. Okay, that's like I wouldbab pizza. Okay, that's like, uh, I would love to have one of those now. Yeah, and then also like the meatballs is always good, but you can cook them here too, like it's not hard to to do not, not not ikea ones.
Speaker 2:No, not ikea ones, it's have to. You have to make them yourself.
Speaker 1:Uh, so, like mom was here a couple months ago and she made some meatballs and it was really really good nothing beats mom's meatballs no, exactly uh the way we wrap up every episode, linus, is we ask our guests their biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes. There was one thing you wish you knew when you were a younger hockey player growing up. What would it be?
Speaker 2:um, I think it's no, you don't need to. If you love the game, you don't need to rush uh things like everyone has to. I want to be the first rounder. I have to, I have to play in that team when I'm this young, or uh. But if you love the game, you love the, you love the sport, I think, I think you can go your own way. You know, just because one of the guys plays in that team, it doesn't mean you're not going to be a good player. Just have fun. I think having fun is probably the best advice I can give someone.
Speaker 2:If you don't think it's fun to play, or then you find something else like you have to find. Have the love of the sports and, yeah, just have fun when you play. That's I think that's the most important thing, because if you don't do that, you don't have the energy to put down the work you have to do, you know. So probably, have fun is probably my best advice.
Speaker 1:I like it. What other sports did you play growing up Fast? Last question Any other sports did you play? Soccer?
Speaker 2:I played. I was trying like two, three practice. I played bandy. Have you seen that? What is that? It's kind of like a soccer field but it's ice and they play with like a ball and then like a kind of special.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, yeah, I'll do some research to get a bandy athlete on, is it a?
Speaker 2:Swedish game. Yeah, it's kind of a Swedish game. I didn't really play games, I just play like three, four practices, but then, like, hockey was always, always my thing do you think they helped you, like playing bandy didn't help? No, no, not really, it was just like three practices, so it wasn't like really helping, I was just trying it. Yeah, yeah, uh, but I played soccer until I was 14 and, okay, that helped then, yeah, no, for sure, like I was, I think it's me it was good to have something else than just hockey.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's just like nice to do something else, focus on just not hockey all the time. I think all my other friends play hockey too, so like yeah, it was just like fun to be around friends and have fun. Yeah, that's probably it.
Speaker 1:I love it, hey quick episode here with Linus Carlson on the Athletes Podcast, episode 254 with number 94. Oh, that's awesome 254,.
Speaker 2:crazy, it's a couple 254, that's a lot.
Speaker 1:Hey, thank you for coming on Seriously we'll look forward to when you are leading the points for another.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 1:Just want to say thank you, folks, for tuning in to the 254th episode of the athletes podcast. Obviously, this is a new format we hope you enjoy. Let us know what you think below. Do you like the Jeep studio? Do you think we should do more training style videos? I want to know. I want to make sure you folks are enjoying what we're putting out here on the athletes podcast on a weekly basis. We have to say thank you our sponsors, can I wellness, for keeping me fresh, ready to go.
Speaker 1:Perfect sports diesel protein powder, which is the best in the business, been voted so for multiple years in a row. Now my personal fave at the moment is the muskoka blueberry. It's so dang good. You have to try it again. Use the code ap20 at checkout to save 20%. And we can't forget about our studio sponsor, jeep Pioneer Auto Group. Thank you, folks, for providing us with the best wheels on the road as we speak. And we have to say thank you to Pioneer Auto Group for providing us with this amazing plug-in hybrid Jeep. It is getting me everywhere I need to go on a daily basis. We're just having a great time. I hope you guys are enjoying it, because I am myself personally, selfishly. I get to have these amazing conversations with these individuals and hopefully you're gaining something from it again. Sincerely, thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you next week for another episode. Bye.
