Great Dane: Bjorkstrand thrilled playing for Denmark, in his hometown

HERNING, Denmark - When Oliver Bjorkstrand was 11, he watched Frans Neilsen suit up for the New York Islanders and become the NHL's first Danish player.
"He opened the door for Danish kids like me to start dreaming about playing in the NHL," said Bjorkstrand, who's now 23 and just finished his first full season with the Blue Jackets. "Before him, our greatest hope was to play in Sweden. Playing in the NHL? That would never happen. But when I was a teenager, the goal was always the NHL and that was because of Frans."

Twelve years later, including three as a professional hockey player, Bjorkstrand is now representing his native Denmark at the 2018 IIHF World Championship. He's not only doing that in his home country, but also his hometown of Herning.
"I never dreamed of this possibility because it just would never happen - there was no way," Bjorkstrand said, prior to the start of the tournament. "We are a small country. Hockey isn't even that popular here. We only have 25 rinks in the entire country. It's pretty amazing we're hosting this event and having it in the town where I grew up makes it even more special."
Herning is the second host city for this year's event, along with Copenhagen, holding games in Pool B at Jyske Bank Boxen, a 10,000-seat arena that opened in 2010 with a Lady Gaga concert and has hosted numerous big-name acts.
With less than 50,000 residents, Herning has one of the best youth programs in the country. In fact, 10 players on the Danish national team either come from or played for Herning growing up, including NHLers like Bjorkstrand, Neilsen (Detroit Red Wings) and goalie Frederik Andersen (Toronto Maple Leafs).
"We don't have a lot of players, but Danish hockey has taken a lot of steps as far as getting more players to higher levels, and it's going in the right direction, so it was time to try for something like this and I'm glad it happened," Bjorkstrand said, flashing a smile. "This is really, really special. I'm sitting here, and I still can't believe it's actually happening."
To put things into perspective, there are more registered referees in Toronto than registered hockey players in Denmark. There are also more hockey arenas in the Swedish capital of Stockholm than in all of Denmark.
"The access to hockey is not the best here," Bjorkstrand said. "The way it works is if you're from a city that has hockey, then you have the chance to play. If not, you probably don't even know what it is. So, if you're lucky and you live in a town with a team, you can play for that team and you stay on that team as you grow up. They've done a really good job training the coaches to help us learn to play hockey and it's helped a lot of the kids develop."
One of those coaches was his father, Todd, a native of Minnesota who played 14 years in Herning and immediately became the head coach upon his retirement. Todd Bjorkstrand stayed in that position for 12 years and helped lead Herning to seven Danish championships as a player and six as a coach. He also coached his son in the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, held in Calgary and Edmonton, which was Oliver's first of four times representing Denmark in U20 world championships.
"We didn't play well that year," Bjorkstrand said. "It was our first time in the top division and we were relegated. We spent two years trying to win our way back up and in my last year, we made it back and we played in Toronto. We even made it to the quarterfinal that year and we've been in the top division ever since, which is huge for us."
It was evidence of the bar being lifted a notch or two in Denmark.
"We've been in the men's top division for 16 years and now at world juniors for four," Bjorkstrand said. "The goal used to be to not get relegated, but the goal has definitely changed. We want to win a quarterfinal and play for a medal."
Despite his status as a pending restricted free agent, which means he doesn't have a contract for next season yet, there was no way Bjorkstrand was missing this tournament.
"Most players without a contract don't play, but it was really hard to pass on," he said. "I really wanted to be here, playing for my country in the town I grew up in. I know a lot of the friends I grew up with are going to try to come to the games, even some that don't live in Herning. I'm sure I'll see a lot of familiar faces in the stands."
Denmark opened the tournament Friday night against Germany, playing in front of 10,000 boisterous fans, including Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark. The Danes won 3-2 in a shootout.
"Obviously, a huge game for us so it was good to get the first one and be able to celebrate with our fans," Bjorkstrand said. "[It] would have been nice to get the three points, but we'll take two. The fans were great. It was really special for us to be able to play in front of them. I was expecting a lot of Danes out there cheering us on and they were better than I expected. Danes, we love singing the national anthem and I've never seen 10,000 Danes singing along with us. It was awesome."
As Denmark prepares to face Canada on Monday (2 p.m., NHL Network), Bjorkstrand said the Danes understand the opportunity that hosting the world championship provides. It's a chance to fan the flame for hockey in Denmark.
"I'm just hoping a lot of people are going to come out and watch hockey," he said. "It's not a big sport in Denmark, so I'm just hoping we can attract the attention of the casual fan and some new faces will show up and learn about hockey - and, of course, support us."
As for the host country's aspirations on the ice, the goal is simple. Win as much as possible.
"We want to give them something to cheer about," Bjorkstrand said. "I just want to win as many games and go as far as possible. We have a good team, and I didn't even think this was possible and here we are. So, you never know. Anything can happen."