Las Vegas Invitational was a spectacular first ever rink bandy tournament in the world center of entertainment in Nevada. The final game in the tournament was played on Saturday 8 June between the Norwegian Vikings and the Minnesota Legends.
The Norwegian Vikings avenged a loss from the day before to beat the Minnesota Legends team 5-2. Then the Norwegians won the world’s first bandy tournament in Las Vegas. While the outside temperature was +42 C (107 F) inside it was another thing and the ice in the First America Center was fast.
The Vikings were able to break through the Legends strong defense in the second half and go for the tournament victory. Fredrick Norby 3 goals for the Norwegians and Fritiof Hagberg and Carl Jerner one each. Greg Olson and Mike Hosfield scored the goals for USA Minnesota Legends.
ALL THE RESULTS
Norwegian Vikings-KOSA Arc Warriors 10-5
KOSA Arc Warriors- Atomic Steel 4-5
Krunehof Tellus C-Norwegian Vikings 6-14
Minnesota Legends-Atomic Steel 4-5
KOSA Arc Warriors-Krunehof Tellus C 9-1
Norwegian Vikings-Atomic Steel 5-2
Minnesota Legends-Krunehof Tellus C 11-4
KOSA Arc Warriors-Minnesota Legends 3-19
Atomic Steel-Krunehof Tellus C 5-5
Minnesota Legends-Norwegian Vikings 7-1
Game for place 3
Atomic Steel-KOSA Arc Warriors 6-4
Final game
Norwegian Vikings-Minnesota Legends 5-2
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER EACH GAME
Received a Las Vegas memento
Game 1: Felix Callander, Norwegian Viking
Game 2: Mac Berglove, Atomic Steel
Game 3: Fritiof Hagberg, Norwegian Vikings
Game 4: Alex Turtinen, Atomic Steel
Game 5: Joey Bullock, KOSA Arc Warriors
Game 6: Peter Haug, Norwegian Vikings
Game 7: Greg Olson, Minnesota Legends
Game 8: Peter Knutson, Atomic Steel
Game 9: Mike Lickteig, Minnesota Legends
Game 10: Zack Wynne, Minnesota Ldegends
3rd place: Mike Fabie, Atomic Steel
FRITIOF HAGBERG
Fritiof Hagberg, Norwegian Vikings, was awarded the tournaments Most Valuable Player. Hagberg was a dominating player in the winning team and scoring and assisting on many goals. Hagberg currently plays in the Swedish “Elitserien” for Broberg and one of the many highly skilled players in the first Las Vegas Invitational.
Atomic Steel took the 3rd place. The Swedish KOSA Arc Warriors came quick into a lead with 3-1 and 4-2 with especially strong play of Adam Gilljam and Gösta Ahlgren. But Atomic finally woke up and tied it up, then took the lead when veteran Kurt Von Steinbergs scored to give Atomic their first lead. Mike Fabie added a final goal to give Atomic Steel a victory 6-4 and got the third price that was another Kosta Boda Crystal trophy.
FINAL STANDING IN THE FIRST LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
1. Norwegian VikingsÂ
2. Minnesota Legends
3. Atomic Steel
4. KOSA Arc Warriors
5. Krunehof Tellus C