Experience Playing Hockey in Europe | Sweden | Zach Remers

What's it like to play hockey in Sweden?

After completing a strong 4-year NCAA career for Buffalo State in the SUNYAC, Remers has begun his 1st year pro in Sweden for Kalmar HC in HockeyEttan. His answers below will help provide perspective for you based on his own personal experience playing hockey in Europe.

Player's Name: Zach Remers

Which club do you play this season? (Team, League, Country):

Kalmar HC, Hockeyettan, Sweden

What is your favorite part about playing for your club/organization?

My favorite part would be my teammates, they have really helped me adjust to everything and been a big support system for me.

How many years of pro have you played in Europe so far?

1 season

Experience off the ice

Describe your experience of living & having the ability to play hockey in Sweden. What is everyday life like outside of the arena in Kalmar? culture/language/day-to-day...

Everyday life outside of the rink has been great even with covid going on. The city of Kalmar is beautiful and there is a lot to see especially with it being located right on the coast. The culture has been the biggest difference with the language and how Swedish live, eat, and everything it has been an adjustment. The people are very friendly and will help out most of the time if I ever needed help with anything.

In your words, how would you describe the style/level of play in HockeyEttan?

The bigger ice makes the game all about possession. There isn’t a lot of dump and chase it’s more of constantly cycling back and keeping possession rather than giving it away. It’s also a much more skilled game and not nearly as physical as North American style.

How did you like playing there with the other imports both on & off the ice?

It is very nice to have other imports on the team especially ones from North America. It gives you a little piece of home and someone to speak English with. I was lucky enough to live with the other import so we got to escape from all the Swedish while we were at home.

Favorite story or 2 of yours from playing hockey in Sweden & overseas in general?

One of the funniest stories I have that had me realize how different hockey was here was when we had scored the tying goal against our in division rival and it got called off due to a high stick but it was a really close call that could have gone either way. As the ref waved it off about 10 players from my team raced off to the referees circle and were yelling at the ref and calling him every name in the book. I couldn’t believe how many players we had over by them it reminded me of soccer. The other import and myself just looked at each other in shock and just started laughing.

Which city do you currently reside in during the off season & what do you enjoy most during the summer while you are out of the season?

I live in Tampa, Florida so during the off-season when I’m not training I enjoy spending time with family and friends and the definitely the Florida beaches and the sunshine of course.

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Last question: favorite word/phrase you learned (or like using) in the foreign language in Sweden?

Tillsammans är vi Kalmar HC- together we are Kalmar HC. All the fans love saying it and it makes it feel like it’s one big family

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