Weird Islanders: The Podcast! - Tommy Söderström (with guest Craig Dixon aka @IslesEbay)

2 weeks ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey

Tommy Söderström was a very, very bad goalie (at least, for the Islanders) Mike and Dan talk with IslesEbay master Craig Dixon about Tommy Söderström, the shambolic Swedish goalie who lost a lot of games in his short time as an Islander.
Söderström parlayed international success into a stint with the Flyers, who sent him to Long Island in exchange for the pariah Ron Hextall. Sadly, Söderström didn’t fare any better, and “backstopped” some of the worst Islanders teams ever assembled. He did himself no favors by looking like he just walked off the street to play goal that night, and despite a few very rare highlights, was cast aside just as quickly as he was acquired.
He found success (and money) back in Sweden but he left some bad impressions on the few that watched those teams play (mainly us).
Craig tells us about his ebay obsession and some favorite pick ups from over the years, how Söderström affected his young fan mind at the time and respecting his combative attitude and his abrupt goodbye to hockey.
Thanks again to Craig for coming on. We’ve wanted to do this collaboration for a while and his pick was perfect. Follow IslesEbay on Twitter.

WEIRD BONUS MATERIAL!

I completely forgot that I included Soderstrom in my Islander of the Day series. I was also much nicer than I remember, too.
This Flyers blog also did a retrospective on him (that was much more detailed than mine).

And one more. Soderstrom’s international experience at the 1991 Canada Cup and 1992 World Juniors, where he led Sweden to gold (1.40 GAA, .936 sv%, 2 SO), made him a highly touted prospect.
Throughout his playing career, he suffered from Wolff-Parkinson’s-White Syndrome, a condition that causes rapid heartbeats and other issues that required five operations. Charlie McAvoy and Mike Rupp are two other NHLers that had the same genetic condition. ESPN did a piece on Soderstrom’s medical issues, along with another Weird Islander, Brian Mullen.
March 31, 1996. Soderstrom plays 10 seconds against the Rangers and gives up a goal. The result is a 360 goals against average for the game. An even more examination of that ridiculous number can be found in this great short documentary:



He could have good games, such as this shutout versus the Oilers in 1996.
One of the more infamous moments of Soderstrom’s career was this fight at the Meadowlands against Devils goalie Corey Schwab. And the post fight interview was gold, “I don’t give a shit. They’re not my fans.”


You know who loves goalies, Stan Fischler. And in this post game talk, we find out that Soderstrom’s nickname was “Psycho.”

After moving back to Sweden in 1997, Soderstrom was named league MVP or Guldhjälmen. But just a couple of years later, after winning his third SEL championship, he suddenly retired having lost his enjoyment of the game. He had two years left on his contract, but instead of sitting home and collecting kroner, he called it quits and Djurgårdens let have the money back.

What makes a “Weird Islander?”
We’re always open to suggestions about other Weird Islanders to discuss. Remember the criteria. Candidates must fulfill one of the two of the following:

Played one (1) season or less for the Islanders or very short stints over multiple seasons.
Be a veteran NHLer who is not generally associated with his time on Islanders.


Subscribe to our Patreon! Members get ad-free episodes of all our shows, bonus podcasts, written posts, discounts and much more.

Visit our friends!


Vintage Ice Hockey for t-shirts, hoodies and jerseys featuring hundreds of classic hockey logos, as well as Islanders Anxiety merch, and our Al Arbour and The Island shirts. Our portion of the sales benefit the Center for Dementia Research. Use the code ANXIETY20 to save 20% off an order of two items.

The Pinot Project has Rosé, Pinot Grigio and a Pinot Noir that was named a 2024 Top 100 Best Buy by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. All are under $15 a bottle and are available at local wine shops and at UBS Arena.
Islanders Anxiety podcasts are part of the Fans First Sports Network (@FansFirstSN).
Theme song: “Knuckles” by Björn Falk. Hear more of his music on Spotify and at Bandcamp.
Drum sfx via Zapsplat.com. Jingle bell sfx also via ZapSplat.


Please subscribe, download, rate, review or spread the word about Islanders Anxiety, Weird Islanders: The Podcast! and all of our podcasts any way you can. All of it helps to raise the show’s profile and maybe could get us another fancy sponsor to sell out to in the near future. Leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
All Islanders Anxiety podcasts are available on:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Music
Audible.com
I Heart Radio

NEW! YouTube and YouTube Music

And everywhere podcasts are found


...

Read Full Article.