NHL-meriterade Denis Tolpeko - som anslöt till AIK för ett fåtal veckor sedan - har ett par veckor kvar på tryouten med Stockholmsklubben och det återstår att se om han blir långvarig i Gnaget.

Den 34-årige forwarden, med 350 KHL-bataljer på meritlistan, om hur han hamnade i AIK av alla klubbar.

- Jag har ju inte spelat på några år nu och hade funderingar på att ta ett litet uppehåll i min karriär, eller till och med sluta och kanske syssla med andra saker. Men jag kom fram till att jag vill spela igen. Jag pratade med min agent och sa att jag ville spela i Europa, och gärna här i Sverige. Han pratade med Anders (Gozzi) och jag fick komma hit på tryout. Jag tittade lite överallt, men det fanns inte så många möjligheter eller öppningar eftersom jag inte har spelat på länge, säger Denis Tolpeko till Hockeynews.se.

Ryssens svar på frågan om han har bra koll på AIK och och HockeyAllsvenskan.

- Jag vet självklart om att AIK är en storklubb och ett stort namn här i Sverige. Jag vet att det är en bra organisation och att många spelare från klubben går vidare till SHL eller till och med NHL. Allsvenskan vet jag är en bra andraliga, en snabb liga med många unga spelare, säger han.

Tolpeko spelade sin senaste match säsongen 2017/2018. Den gången i Spartak Moskva (KHL) och det blev endast fyra bataljer den säsongen.

Vinna eller försvinna, det är vad som gäller i kvällens match borta mot Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Här är dagens startelva:

Isak Pettersson

Filip Dagerstål

Kasper Larsen

Rasmus Lauritsen

Lars Krogh Gerson

Alexander Fransson

Simon Thern

Gudmundur Thorarinsson

Simon Skrabb

Christoffer Nyman

Sead Haksabanovic

1. Troja/Ljungby (12/15)

Målvakter: ++++

Backar: ++++

Forwards: ++++

***

Troja/Ljungby tar nya tag efter en säsong som - sett till att smålänningarna ska ses som en "storklubb" i ett Hockeyettan-perspektiv - i allra högsta grad var underkänd.

Flera Hockeyettan-lag håller förvisso hög klass och det skiljer inte direkt mycket mellan Troja och minst 5-6 andra lag som läget är nu, men det känns ändå rätt att låta Roger Forsbergs gäng toppa den här rankingen.

Det beror inte minst på att den högklassiga målvaktsbesättningen från förra säsongen är intakt. Ett lag byggs bakifrån och Wictor Ragnewall samt Anton Svensson ger Troja/Ljungby en magnifik konkurrenssituation på målvaktssidan.

Troja har dessutom värvat en del vassa utespelare, däribland till exempel Mattias Elfström och William Romfors, samtidigt som flera viktiga spelare är kvar från i fjol.

Smålänningarna har sammantaget en väldigt bra mix av olika spelartyper och tre starka lagdelar. Grundförutsättningarna för att ta revansch efter förra säsongens misslyckande är minst sagt goda.

Läs även:

Plats 2
Plats 3

This article was published on the SEC website in the week prior to the Speedway European Championship in Vojens, Denmark.

Due to an injury sustained in Poland on the day before the SEC, Leon Madsen was unable to participate. But this Round 3 was won by fellow Dane, Mikkel Michelsen (in photo) in arguably the biggest win of his career. In third place was another compatriot, Nicki Pedersen.

Read to to see my profile of each of the Danish riders in the competition.

Look out for the Danes at SEC Round 3 in Vojens, DK

Speedway in the host nation is in really good shape at the moment so don't be surprised in the Danish national anthem is playing at the end of the meeting too.

For many years the sport in the country has been dominated by one person, Nicki Pedersen. Winner of the SEC in 2016, he is also a triple world champion and at 42 is still one of the best riders on the circuit. Sitting in third place after two rounds of the 2019 SEC with 19 points, you can be sure that this fiercely competitive Dane is only after one thing - overall victory.

But his greatest obstacle in Vojens is likely to be another Danish rider. The veteran not the best Dane on heat averages in the leagues in Poland or Sweden and SEC competitor Mikkel Michelsen currently has the honour of being the highest scoring rider in the Danish Metal League. Soon 25 yrs, Michelsen is having the best season of his career and is one of Lublin’s top riders in the Ekstraliga.

In regard to the SEC, there are four other riders from the host nation already on the points table. Anders Thomsen (6 pts) was riding brilliantly in Torun until an accident took him out. Meanwhile, Mikkel Michelsen (15 pts) and Michael Jepsen Jensen (16 pts) have shown great consistence in the two rounds so far to put them in eighth and sixth respectively. If they make it through to the knockout stages in Vojens it could be the launch pad for a podium finish when the SEC lands Chorzow in September.

But the name most likely to be on Pedersen's mind is 30-year-old, Leon Madsen. He is the 2018 Speedway European Champion and won the last round in Torun putting him just one point behind the current overall leader, Russia's own veteran, Grigorij Laguta.

Madsen has reduced his commitments this year and is focusing on the Ekstraliga as the larger international tournaments, such as the SEC. It seems to be paying off and you can bet he will going out all guns blazing to make sure he adds winning Round 3 of SEC on home turf on 10 August.

Adrian J

Five One Racing

Twitter: @BritOnThinIce1

Instagram: @a_brit_on_thin_ice1

#LUBGOR

For second match in a row Polish youngsters Wiktor Lampart (18 yrs) and Viktor Trofymov (19 yrs) won the reserve Heat 5:1 to give home team, SPEEDCAR MOTOR Lublin, a great start in this key match in the race to stay out of the sixth place in the table and avoid the relegation playoff.

It took until heats 5 and 6 for the visitors got their eye in and win a heat on points as first Szymon Wozniak, and then Krzysztof Kasprzak, lead to take two 2:4 heats in a row for visiting STELMET STAL Gorzów.

But Lublin responded two wins of their their own, first a 4:2 and then a 5:1 in heats 7 and 8 as first Andreas Jonsson, and then Lampart, took the victory. That meant they were ahead 28:20 and the bonus points was also in reach.

Gorzów has won the home fixture by eight points back in Round 2, so now it was critical that, even if they lost, to keep the margin down as low as possible and at least retain the bonus point.

But in Heat 11, who else but Lublin’s Mikkel Michelsen took the win. The Dane’s weekend was nothing but sensational. He came from Saturday when he won the SEC Round 3 in Vojens in home soil and even gives himself a realistic chance at the title in September.

The final four heats all finished 3:3 so the scores read 50:40 on the night and 91:89 on aggregate.

The win and the bonus lifts Lublin out of sixth place and the relegation playoff. They were replaced by no other than their opponents, Gorzów, who are slumping in form at exactly the wrong time.

The final matches on the season will decide these teams fate.

#ZIEWRO

The battle for second place in this season’s table was decided on Sunday when BETARD SPARTA Wroclaw travelled to FALUBAZ Zielona Góra for the late match.

The home team’s quest for victory and possibly even the bonus began in the best possible way as Michael Jepsen Jensen took first place in front of team mate, Martin Vaculik, to secure a 5:1 to the home side in the first heat.

But three 1:5 wins in a row for the visitors in heats 2-4 created an eight point lead for Wroclaw putting Zielona on the back foot before the match had really got going. Przemyslaw Liszka picking up 5+1 in his two heats.

And when in Heat 8, Tai Woffinden and Jakub Jamróg took a fourth 1:5 victory for Wroclaw to opening up a 19:29 lead, the match looked beyond Zielona at the half way stage.

To give them credit, the home team never gave up, especially Patryk Dudek, who won two heats on the way to impressive 14 points on the night.

But for the home team there were too many 3:3 heats to really eat into the deficit.

Woffinden‘s win in Heat 14 would seal the match for Wroclaw and the 2018 world champion gained 10 points on the night. He would only be eclipsed by Maciej Janowski on his team who finished with 10+2. Both those two bonus were scored when Lizska in front of him. It was a night to remember for the 19 year old reserve rider who only dropped one point in his three heats.