Järfälla’s 10-day tour of Minnesota brought full-circle meaning for David Landes and Dan Nyberg, whose own high school exchange experience more than 30 years ago helped inspire the trip.
When the Twin Cities hosted the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, the tournament served as a celebration of elite youth hockey. Future NHL stars took the ice at 3M Arena at Mariucci and Grand Casino Arena, representing ten proud hockey nations. In an exhilarating gold-medal showdown, Team Sweden emerged victorious over Czechia.
While much of the spotlight centered on the tournament, it wasn’t the only Swedish hockey story unfolding in the State of Hockey. At the same time, U18 club Järfälla embarked on a 10-day tour of Minnesota, facing 7 Twin Cities-area Junior Gold teams in a collaboration with Minnesota Hockey called the World Juniors Exhibition Showcase.
Järfälla Hockey Club is an ice hockey club located just outside of Stockholm. The organization was formed in 1976 when two local clubs merged their senior and junior sections. Today, Järfälla has around 420 active players from U7 to the senior ranks.
The club is renowned for developing young talent into successful players. Former NHLers Niklas Kronwall, Staffan Kronwall, Mikael Tellqvist and Marcus Nilson all got their starts in Järfälla.
The current players of Järfälla are hoping to follow in those footsteps, and many got their first taste of North American hockey during the World Juniors Exhibition Showcase.
Throughout the showcase, Järfälla matched up with Osseo/Maple Grove, White Bear Lake, Stillwater, St. Paul, Wayzata, Blaine and Prior Lake junior gold teams. In the seven games, Järfälla amassed a 4-3-0 record.
The Swedish club had ample opportunity on the ice, and they also took in Minnesota’s famous hockey culture. The team attended a matchup between two high school blue bloods when Edina faced off with Hill-Murray at historic Braemar Arena and were invited by the Hornets to check out the home locker room after the game.
Järfälla also joined St. Paul Academy for a joint practice, visited St. Olaf College, and attended some Team Sweden games at the World Juniors, including a victory over Team USA at a sold-out Grand Casino Arena.
A Showcase Decades in the Making
While Järfälla made the trip for the first time in 2025-26, the tour has roots that go back over 30 years.
During the 1990-91 hockey season, a then-16-year-old student at St. Paul Academy David Landes and his family hosted a foreign-exchange hockey player from Järfälla Hockey Club in Sweden, Dan Nyberg. Nyberg lived with Landes during his senior year of high school before going on to play four years at Yale University.
Landes and Nyberg played together for just one season, but they formed a bond that has lasted their entire lives. Landes even lived with Nyberg’s family while he interned in Stockholm before moving to Sweden permanently. Nyberg, on the other hand, moved to the United States after accepting a job in Washington, D.C.
Despite the passing of the years, Landes and Nyberg both looked back on their time in Minnesota High School hockey as a foundational part of their life. Landes wanted the Swedish club to experience that culture. He says that the shared hockey culture of Minnesota and Sweden is one of the things that was most eye-opening to the players about their trip.
“I think what has most impressed everyone is the strength and depth of Minnesota hockey culture. Hockey is a big deal in Sweden, and to come across the Atlantic and experience the State of Hockey has been an eye-opener,” Landes said. “There have been strong ties between Sweden and Minnesota for more than 150 years and it’s great to see hockey helping strengthen those ties further.”
Järfälla’s trip had special significance for Landes and Nyberg, as it also served as an opportunity for their sons to play together. Landes’ youngest child Tim Landes and Nyberg’s middle child Niklas Nyberg suited up for Järfälla during the trip.
Niklas, who plays high school hockey in the D.C. area, was an honorary member of the team for the duration of the trip.
Landes and Nyberg hope the trip will form lifelong memories for the players of Järfälla and those they play against. While the showcase was an opportunity to sharpen skills on the ice, it was ultimately about the exchange of cultures and highlighted how hockey can be a uniting force to bring people together.
“Hockey indirectly changed the trajectory of my life,” Landes said in an interview with the Star Tribune. “Hockey has been this glue. Hockey is something that everyone can unite around, understand, and remind us more of what we have in common than our differences.”
