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Player of the Month

The European Hockey.Net European Player of the Month is awarded to the player with the most oustanding performance over the course of the month

Nominations are collected at the end of each month, then a vote by the site's admin team decides the winner.

May 2006 - Kenny Jönsson

2006 is a year the Jönsson brothers Jörgen and Kenny never will forget. In February they both were on the Swedish team that won the Olympic gold medals and at the World Championship in May the Swedes once again captured the gold medals with both Jörgen and Kenny on the team. This was the first time in the history of ice hockey that a country won both the Olympics and the World Championship the same season. Between the international victories Jörgen had won the Swedish Championship with Färjestads BK while Kenny dominated the Swedish second league HockeyAllsvenskan and took his team Rögle BK to the qualification to Elitserien.

At the Olympics Kenny Jönsson was named the best defenseman of the tournament, while fellow Swede Niklas Kronwall captured the award at the World Championships. According to many experts including the Eurohockey.net Player of the month jury, Kenny Jönsson deserved the award at the World Championships as well. Of course, Kronwall's offensive skills are more eye-catching than Jönsson's, but Jönsson's intelligence and defensive skills are outstanding.

Jörgen Jönsson is usually Captain of Team Sweden when Mats Sundin is absent, but when Jörgen was injured in the preparing games before the World Championship, the 2 years younger brother Kenny got the important role, and kept it over the World Championship. Kenny is also Captain of Rögle BK and has earlier been Captain of New York Islanders.

At the World Championship Kenny Jönsson collected 3 goals and 3 assists in 9 games. In the Gold Medal game (4-0 vs Czech Republic) he remained scoreless, but after the game it was known that he had played with 2 broken ribs.

Kenny Jönsson, lifts the trophy at the WCs.
Photo: Roman Kucera

Kenny Jönsson was born October 6 1974 in Ängelholm in the south of Sweden. 1991 he made his debut in the senior team of Rögle BK. He was named Elitserien Rookie of the Year 1992/93 and was drafted by Toronto Maple Leafs as #12 overall 1993. After the 1993/94 season Kenny Jönsson was well known internationally. He had been a part of the Swedish Gold Medal winning team at the Olympics in Lillehammer. He had also been named Best Defenseman at the World Junior Championship. Kenny Jönsson then spent ten seasons in NHL (Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders) before returning home to Rögle BK for the 2004/05 season. After the NHL lockout, Kenny turned down offers from NHL and decided to stay in Sweden for family reasons.

Jönsson's performances at the Olympics and the World Championship won him the award as the Swedish Player of the Year. This was the first time since 1995 that a defenseman won the award.

The triumph at the World Championship also wins him the award European Player of the Month for May 2006.

Related links

Kenny Jönsson's profile