Tomas Holmström

Infobox Ice Hockey Player

---

image_size = 250px
position = Left/Right Wing
shoots = Left
height_ft = 6
height_in = 0
weight_lb = 203
team = Detroit Red Wings
league = NHL
nationality = SWE
birth_date = birth date and age|1973|1|23
birth_place = Piteå, Sweden
career_start = 1994
draft = 257th overall
draft_year = 1994
draft_team = Detroit Red Wings

Tomas Holmström (born January 23, 1973, in Piteå, Sweden) is a Swedish professional ice hockey left winger with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, where he has won four Stanley Cup championships. He is sometimes known as "Homer" [cite news| url=http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080529/SPORTS05/305290004&imw=Y | title=McCarty, Draper, Osgood ... those who stay will be champions | publisher="Detroit Free Press" | last=St. James | first=Helene | date=2008-05-29 | accessdate=2008-07-23] .

Playing career

Holmström was first noticed by Red Wings scout Håkan Andersson in 1993 during a national team selection camp, where Holmström missed the cut, then again the next year while playing with Boden where his coach, Niklas Wikegård, told Andersson that Holmström was the team's best player. [Cite web|url=http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/7606/hkan_andersson_scout_extraordinaire/|title=Håkan Andersson, scout extraordinaire|accessdate=2008-05-25|publisher=hockeysfuture.com|year=2005|author=Manojlovic, Zoran] He was drafted 257th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft and has played for the Red Wings since 1996 with the exception of the season lost due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout where Holmström returned to Sweden to play for his old team, Luleå HF in the Swedish elite league Elitserien.

On April 7, 2007, Holmström scored his 30th goal of the 2006–07 season against Chicago Blackhawks, achieving the first 30 goal season of his career.Holmström scored 12 points during the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in 11 years. On his day with the Cup, he had his cousin's daughter baptised in it. [cite news | url = http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=244360 | title = Wings' Holmstrom uses Stanley Cup in baptism | publisher = TSN | date = 2008-07-25 | accessdate = 2008-07-25]

He was inducted into the Piteå Wall of Fame in 2006.

Playing Style

Holmström is known for standing in front of the goal to screen the opposing goaltender to try to tip in goals.Cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=290110|title=Hand ... eye ... puck ... stick ... goal!|accessdate=2007-03-07|publisher=NHL.com|year=2007|author=Grossman, Evan] Because he has to withstand hits from pucks as well as his opponents in this position, he wears several extra pads to protect his body.Cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/columns/wigge/holmstrom030306.html|title=Cry havoc and let slip Tomas Holmstrom!|accessdate=2007-03-07|publisher=NHL.com|year=2006|author=Wigge, Larry] Holmström is known to many fans in Detroit by the nickname of "Homer." He acquired the nickname "Demolition Man" while playing in Sweden (where he was also called "Holma").

Trivia

In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated, Holmström said that he wears three similar gray shirts (one before warm-ups, one during warm-ups, and one during the game), but says that he cannot mix them up because of their purposes.Cite web|url=http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1107439/index.htm|title=Before every game I...|accessdate=2008-04-27|publisher=sportsillustrated.cnn.com|year=2007|author=sportsillustrated.cnn.com]

Awards

* Named to the Swedish All-Star Team in 1996.
* Gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 2006.
*Stanley Cup (Detroit Red Wings) in 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008.

Career statistics

International play

Holmström has played for Sweden in the following competitions:

* 1996 World Championships
* 2002 Winter Olympics
* 2004 World Cup of Hockey
* 2006 Winter Olympics (gold medal)

International statistics

"Statistics as of May 25, 2007"

References

External links

*hockeydb|19107