By Kitt Amundsen
As I started to prepare for this interview, one thing kept crossing my mind: what do you ask someone who's won a Gold Medal for his country in the last Olympics in a shoot-out that was recorded on a postage stamp in his native homeland? Not only that, but what would I say to the NHL player who, in a poll given by the Hockey News 11 of 15 GMs said given the choice they would choose as their franchise player.
For a player so young, his statistics are phenomenal. He was the first choice of the Philadelphia Flyers (6th overall) in the 1991 Entry Draft, and part of one of the most historic trades in NHL history-. On June 30, 1992 he was traded along with Steve Duchene, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Chris Simon, a first round draft choice in the 1993 and 1994 Entry Drafts and cash by Philadelphia to the Quebec Nordiques for Eric Lindros. He was the 1994-95 NHL Rookie of the year. He was a member of the 1996 Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup winning team. He has appeared in three All-Star games, was the 1996-97 Koho Cup Winner, a Selke Award nominee, and lead his team in scoring last year. In a game again Japan in the 1993 World Junior Championships, he scored 10 points in one game.
I met Peter for the first time, when I talked to him about his linemate, Valeri Kamensky, for a previous interview, and again, when he agreed to pose for an exclusive photo in his Olympic sweater for In The Crease. Peter agreed to meet with me during the All Star game weekend for an In The Crease interview. I found him to be very friendly, with a good sense of humor, and yet extremely humble. What I found most impressive however, was the fact that when he was unable to make our first appointment, he called to say he was running late, and then arrived promptly at the second agreed upon time. Although this seems to be an act of common courtesy, I am not certain that many other athletes of his caliber would go out of their way as he did.
It is a pleasure to bring you this interview with Colorado Avalanche center, Forsberg, as he talks about the Olympics, his father, hockey and himself. It is easy to admire Forsberg for his multiple talents on the ice. It is my hope that this interview will allow you a glimpse of the person that he is off the ice.
Amundson: Peter, let's start with the Olympics, where you will be playing not only for your country but for your father as well. I assume that the two of you are close, does this make it all that more special for you?
Forsberg: Yeah, we're close. It adds a little bit more pressure, it does, but on the other hand it's such an important tournament anyway, so, I don't really feel a lot of pressure anyway. I'm so used to playing for my dad, so it doesn't really matter. I've played for his since I was twelve years old-he coached me for like 5 years, then I had another coach for three years and then I had my father as a coach again. He's coached me for a lot of years so I'm used to it.
Amundson: When the game is over, is your dad, just your dad off the ice, or does he still remain your coach?
Forsberg: Yeah, kind of?.yeah. When we're down at the arena, he's my coach. But at home we don't really talk about how the game was, how I played, we don't talk about that, we can talk about the hockey games, but not how I played. He never really said anything unless it was really, really, important.
Amundson: Is it going to be interesting this time, to have your professional coach, now be on the same level as your dad?
Forsberg: Yeah it's gonna be weird. It's not gonna be more weird that Crawford is going to be coaching the Canadian team and I'll be playing for Sweden. He may say a few things and make it harder for me but that's just the way it is and you can't really do anything about it so you just try to make the best of the situation.
Amundson: I've spoken with several players, you included when we talked about Valeri Kamensky, about what it would be like to play against your current teammates in the Olympics, can you comment about that?
Forsberg: You have to put on your game face. Like I said, it's so important-you don't have any friends-you have to do your best for the team that you are playing for. It's an honor to put on the Olympic jersey and you have to do everything in your power to make sure that you do the best that you can.
**I spoke with Peter after the skills competition, during which, he had a one on one opportunity against Roy in the relay event.
Amundson: Ok Peter, this afternoon, we talked about what it would be like to have a scoring opportunity on Patrick, would you like to tell me about it?
Forsberg: I was gonna go 5-hole and get the rebound but he was kind of far in so I thought I'd go high and I missed the net. I thought I had an opening though, I should have gotten it. He cover a lot of net. We had a side bet and he won so I'm gonna hear about this. I can't wait for the Olympic games now?. (Peter laughs)
Amundson: You're here for the All Star game, which is a game for the players really, a chance for you to have fun. Soon you will be playing in the Olympics, which is played from the heart, and although you're making good money in the NHL, is it nice to go back to why you started playing hockey in the first place?
Forsberg: Yeah, it is. Even though you're playing for fun, there's a lot of pressure when you go over to play in the Olympics. It's something that breaks it up a little bit, so it's nice to have something in the middle of the season to play for. Normally you just go through the regular season, 82 games and nothing happens. Now there's going to be a big break. It's a big tournament and everybody's taking it seriously. It's gonna be hard, it's gonna be so important.
Amundson: Will coming back from such an important competition help you focus for the remainder of the 1997-98 season?
Forsberg: Right when we get back I think it's gonna be a little tough, but when it comes to the playoffs we have to get back at it and be ready.
Amundson: What about the Colorado Avalanche?.you're in the second year of your contract with an option for the third year-do you want to stay in Colorado?
Forsberg: Oh yeah-well I like it a lot in Denver, we've got a good team and Joe's taken a lot of pressure off me. I really enjoy to play there. I like to win and I like to be on a winning team and if I can stay in Denver, I would like to do it.
Amundson: What do people not know about Forsberg?
Forsberg: Well hockey-wise I don't think it's a whole lot because you know because you don't have any secrets when you're out there anymore. (Peter and I joke about how nice it would be if he could come out every night with a new secret-he says that would be "unbelievable and maybe Jagr can do that , but I cant!" As for my personal life, I like to keep that quiet, and I don't really want to share that. I never let the media in my house, let them take pictures of my house or know where I live. I try to keep my private life to myself.
Amundson: Is that only fair, a trade off for the part of your life that is so public and accessible to the public?
Forsberg: I think over here it's much better than back home in Sweden. Back home in Sweden the media wants to see how I live, they want to know about my girlfriend, my family, everything. Over here, the media wants to know about me and hockey, that's it, and I really like that. I like my private life to be private-it belongs to me and my family, and I like that. I understand that everyone who likes hockey wants to share that part of my life, but that's all that I want to share.
End of interview
