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A Lesson in Spelling

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photo: Maureen Landers/Flickr

I’ve read 3 articles today pertaining to Nicklas Lidstrom.  A piece about the Mike Babcock’s philosophy of allowing his players to have fun from the Globe and Mail, in light of their recent curling competition.  An article from the Toronto Star on Dustin Byfuglien’s emergence as a defenseman and the inevitable comparisons to Lidstrom.  And a wonderfully, and rightfully, gushing feature on The Perfect Human from the Calgary Herald.

Two out of those three articles, from national newspapers, committed the same error that made my eyes just cross in irritation.  And so I’m reposting a blog post from a while back that I wrote on this very cause of annoyance.

He goes by many names on the blogosphere and the dressing room, from Swede, to The Perfect Human, Lidas, and more.  But he is not, nor ever will be, ‘Nik.’  That type of misspelling is simply inexcusable, and I’m sick of seeing it.

—Originally posted on Aug 17, 2009—

Dear hockey journalists, bloggers, and everyone else who likes to espouse about hockey as if our opinions really mattered,

The puck will soon drop on the 2009-2010 NHL season.  With the Detroit Red Wings kicking off against  the St. Louis Blues in Sweden, we’ll be certain to see plenty of coverage on both teams, most obviously, the Swedes on each team.

And so in light of that, I beg you all… please spell Nicklas Lidstrom’s name correctly.  I’m not talking about the 2008 Awards gaffe, which led to a kid wearing a jersey that said “Lindstrom.”  No, it’s so much more than that.

It’s Nick.

Not Nik.  That’s Kronwall.  Nik Jr., as it were.

6’2″, #5 as opposed to 6’0″, #55.  But it’s not just a matter of a few inches and the number 5.

He’s played in the league for over 18 seasons for crying out loud—you’d think you’d learn how to spell his name in that time.

Nicklas.  Nick.

It’s not even a difficult name, like Khabibulin, or Ponikarovsky, or Simeon/Semyon Varlamov, who’s already corrected the media on how to spell his name.

It’s just Nick.

There’s probably a kid who lives down the street from you, or goes to school with your kids whose name is Nick.

And yet, season after season, I see reporters, bloggers, twitterers, MSM, and fans calling him ‘Nik’ Lidstrom.

The guy is an ultimate captain, and statesman of the game.  He is the best defenseman of his generation, possibly all time.  He’s won the Norris 3 consecutive times, twice.  He’s a Conn Smythe winner–the first European.  He’s the first European born and trained player to captain a championship team.  He’s an Olympic gold medalist for Team Sweden.  He’s a 9-time First Team All-Star.  And his career is nowhere near done.

I implore you—give the man the respect he deserves and spell his name correctly.

Though when, undoubtedly, someone writes about him at the start of the season and refers to him as ‘Nik,’ I can take comfort in the fact that it’s at least it’s spelled right 4 times* on the Stanley Cup, where it really matters.

*I’ll acquiesce that for the 2001-2002 team he shows up as “N. Lidstrom” on the Cup.


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