Frans Nielsen, the trailblazer
Nielsen and his Herning mates took Danish hockey to another level
Being the first is something that can never be taken away. That’s why we remember Columbus, Neil Armstrong, Amelia Earhart, Sir Edmund Hillary, Alpo Suhonen, and that’s why Frans Nielsen will always be the trailblazer of Danish hockey.
On January 5, 2007, Nielsen’s phone rang, and he was told he was being called up to the New York Islanders. The next day, he made his NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes. His 7:38 were the first seven minutes and 38 seconds a Danish-born player had ever played in the National Hockey League.
That call launched an impressive 15-year career in the NHL and when Nielsen retired from the league in 2021, he had almost 950 (regular season and playoffs) games and close to 500 points under his belt. Nielsen, who was drafted into the NHL on the third round, ended up playing eighth most games of his draft class.
In May, Nielsen, 41, became the first Dane to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as Player. The mere memory of being called up brought tears to his eyes during his Hall of Fame speech.
“This is incredible, it’s a big honor. Players in the Hall of Fame are the ones I looked up to as a kid. It’s just an honor to be in the same category as these guys,” he told IIHF.com.
“It's not always you feel like you deserve that, I think,” he added.
Nielsen not only witnessed the rise of Danish hockey, but he also shaped it. After all, he was on the 2002-03 Danish team that earned promotion from the Division 1 to the top division and then kept the team there. (The Milestone Award for that feat was accepted by Jesper Damgaard, the long-time captain of Team Denmark who also received the Richard “Bibi” Torriani Award given “for outstanding contributions to the national team in IIHF competition” in 2018.)
And just before Nielsen retired from hockey in 2022, he helped Denmark qualify for the Olympics for the first time.
Frans Nielsen was the perfect candidate to break through all barriers. His father, Frits, was on the Herning team and played for the Danish national team which back in the late 1970s and early 1980s mostly played in the second and third-tier World Championships. As player-coach, he took Herning back to the top Danish league the year that Frans was born.
In other words, Frans was born into the game.
“I don’t remember life without hockey. I don't remember my father playing, but he was a coach when I grew up so we [Frans and his younger brother Simon] were with him at the rink every day,” he says.
“If we weren't at school we were at the rink, so we probably had a little advantage there. All my idols played on Herning’s Danish league team, and it was great to be allowed to go in the room. That meant a lot for me and my brother, so it was hockey 24/7 at home.”
Some of the players Nielsen looked up to were Team Finland’s NHLer Petri Skriko and Todd Bjorkstrand, a Minnesota native who found a home in Herning – and whose son Oliver now plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Nielsen brothers weren’t alone, and with inspiration both at home and at the rink, Herning became the Danish hockey hot spot. There were also future NHLers Peter Regin, who’s two years younger than Nielsen, and goaltender Frederik Andersen, who’s five years younger than Nielsen, and whose father Ernst was Nielsen’s teammate when he broke through the junior ranks.
“The Herning team had a great group of good players that came in and put a whole new perspective on what it means to compete and be a winner. It just ran all the way down through the system to us young kids,” he says. “Even though we were kids, we had some great role models playing on the first team. They set the standard, and I think they they've done a good job at keeping that kind of mentality ever since.”
“I know my father tried to change the whole mentality in Herning but when he came in as coach, I mean, players were still smoking,” Nielsen says, with a smile, shaking his head.
Nielsen ended his club hockey career as a German champion with Eisbären Berlin. He scored a goal in the Munich Olympic arena as Berlin downed EHC Red Bull München 5-0, in front of a capacity crowd.
A hockey player's dream.
“Playing in front of 20,000 people is not a problem … but speaking in front of a couple of hundred? No, thanks,” Nielsen said.
By then, though, he had already delivered a heartfelt thank you speech.
Note: Jørgen Hviid, the “father of Danish hockey”, was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as Builder in 2005.
Nielsen and his Herning mates took Danish hockey to another level
Being the first is something that can never be taken away. That’s why we remember Columbus, Neil Armstrong, Amelia Earhart, Sir Edmund Hillary, Alpo Suhonen, and that’s why Frans Nielsen will always be the trailblazer of Danish hockey.
On January 5, 2007, Nielsen’s phone rang, and he was told he was being called up to the New York Islanders. The next day, he made his NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes. His 7:38 were the first seven minutes and 38 seconds a Danish-born player had ever played in the National Hockey League.
That call launched an impressive 15-year career in the NHL and when Nielsen retired from the league in 2021, he had almost 950 (regular season and playoffs) games and close to 500 points under his belt. Nielsen, who was drafted into the NHL on the third round, ended up playing eighth most games of his draft class.
In May, Nielsen, 41, became the first Dane to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as Player. The mere memory of being called up brought tears to his eyes during his Hall of Fame speech.
“This is incredible, it’s a big honor. Players in the Hall of Fame are the ones I looked up to as a kid. It’s just an honor to be in the same category as these guys,” he told IIHF.com.
“It's not always you feel like you deserve that, I think,” he added.
Nielsen not only witnessed the rise of Danish hockey, but he also shaped it. After all, he was on the 2002-03 Danish team that earned promotion from the Division 1 to the top division and then kept the team there. (The Milestone Award for that feat was accepted by Jesper Damgaard, the long-time captain of Team Denmark who also received the Richard “Bibi” Torriani Award given “for outstanding contributions to the national team in IIHF competition” in 2018.)
And just before Nielsen retired from hockey in 2022, he helped Denmark qualify for the Olympics for the first time.
Frans Nielsen was the perfect candidate to break through all barriers. His father, Frits, was on the Herning team and played for the Danish national team which back in the late 1970s and early 1980s mostly played in the second and third-tier World Championships. As player-coach, he took Herning back to the top Danish league the year that Frans was born.
In other words, Frans was born into the game.
“I don’t remember life without hockey. I don't remember my father playing, but he was a coach when I grew up so we [Frans and his younger brother Simon] were with him at the rink every day,” he says.
“If we weren't at school we were at the rink, so we probably had a little advantage there. All my idols played on Herning’s Danish league team, and it was great to be allowed to go in the room. That meant a lot for me and my brother, so it was hockey 24/7 at home.”
Some of the players Nielsen looked up to were Team Finland’s NHLer Petri Skriko and Todd Bjorkstrand, a Minnesota native who found a home in Herning – and whose son Oliver now plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Nielsen brothers weren’t alone, and with inspiration both at home and at the rink, Herning became the Danish hockey hot spot. There were also future NHLers Peter Regin, who’s two years younger than Nielsen, and goaltender Frederik Andersen, who’s five years younger than Nielsen, and whose father Ernst was Nielsen’s teammate when he broke through the junior ranks.
“The Herning team had a great group of good players that came in and put a whole new perspective on what it means to compete and be a winner. It just ran all the way down through the system to us young kids,” he says. “Even though we were kids, we had some great role models playing on the first team. They set the standard, and I think they they've done a good job at keeping that kind of mentality ever since.”
“I know my father tried to change the whole mentality in Herning but when he came in as coach, I mean, players were still smoking,” Nielsen says, with a smile, shaking his head.
Nielsen ended his club hockey career as a German champion with Eisbären Berlin. He scored a goal in the Munich Olympic arena as Berlin downed EHC Red Bull München 5-0, in front of a capacity crowd.
A hockey player's dream.
“Playing in front of 20,000 people is not a problem … but speaking in front of a couple of hundred? No, thanks,” Nielsen said.
By then, though, he had already delivered a heartfelt thank you speech.
Note: Jørgen Hviid, the “father of Danish hockey”, was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as Builder in 2005.