Moving across the world to continue playing the sport you love is never an easy decision, but for three new faces on the MRU men's hockey team, the journey from Sweden to Canada has led them all to the same place.

Harry Ahlberg, Liam Nilsson and Ruslan Jamaldinov are three of the newest additions to the Cougars roster, bringing a little bit of Swedish hockey to Mount Royal for the 2026-27 season.

Although all three grew up playing within the Swedish hockey system, their paths to MRU have looked a little different.

For Nilsson, making the move to Canada meant leaving home for the first time and adjusting to life away from his family.

"It was my first time moving away from home. I lived at home all my life," Nilsson said. "I think coming here last year, having a billet family was very good for the first year. I think it prepared me as well for this year."

Jamaldinov had already gotten his first taste of North American hockey before making his way to Canada, spending a season in Philadelphia before joining Nilsson in Kelowna.

Having a familiar face alongside him made being away from Sweden a little bit easier.

"Being away from family and friends and people you're close to is the biggest adjustment," Jamaldinov said. "That's why it was pretty nice last year having Liam there."

While adjusting to life off the ice came with its challenges, stepping onto a North American rink brought a whole new set of changes.

Smaller ice, a quicker pace and a more physical style of play meant all three had to adapt from the hockey they grew up playing in Sweden.

"The style and pace of play here with the smaller ice sheet is very different," Nilsson said. "I think it suited all of us pretty well."

Growing up in Sweden also gave the three a different hockey background than many of their Canadian teammates.

Instead of being separated into different levels throughout youth hockey, Nilsson explained that Swedish players often grow up playing against a much wider range of competition before different tiers are introduced at the junior level.

The style itself is different too.

"I'd say the physicality here," Nilsson said. "You can tell the guys from a young age have been taught to just put you through the end wall, play tough. It's more of a gritty mentality here than back home."

In Sweden, the focus was more on skill development, possession and making plays with the puck.

Ahlberg noticed that difference almost immediately.

"I think it's a big difference," Ahlberg said. "It's a lot more basic skill sets, or just the basics of the game back home."

Jamaldinov agreed, pointing to the possession-focused style they learned growing up compared to the roles and winning mentality players can be introduced to earlier in Canada.

But the differences haven't stopped at the rink.

All three have also had to adjust to a new culture, new cities and life thousands of kilometers away from home.

Luckily, Canadian hockey dressing rooms have helped make the transition a little easier — even if the humor took some getting used to.

"I think Canadian hockey players are a lot funnier," Ahlberg said. "I love my Swedish friends as well, but they don't joke as much."

The jokes may be a little harsher than what he was used to, but Ahlberg quickly learned that they were all part of being welcomed into the room.

"Everybody can take it and give it back, and nobody takes it to hurt," Ahlberg said. "So I think it's fun."

For Nilsson, that welcoming environment helped calm some of the nerves that came with leaving Sweden.

"I was very scared moving over here," Nilsson said. "But both in Kelowna and here, the way you've been welcomed as an import has made such a huge difference. It made it so easy to adapt."

Once he settled in, the unfamiliar environment quickly started to feel like something he already knew.

"You just basically be yourself," Nilsson said. "It just took a couple days last year to be like, okay, I'm fine. It's just another hockey team, basically."

The culture surrounding hockey in Canada has also been a change.

Jamaldinov quickly noticed just how much attention junior hockey receives in Canadian communities compared to back home.

"In Kelowna, the junior teams are the main teams in the town," Jamaldinov said. "In Sweden, it's always a men's team that's the main team."

For Jamaldinov, seeing thousands of people support junior hockey was something completely different from Sweden, where he said a junior game might draw around 50 people, mostly made up of family and friends.

Now, all three are getting introduced to something else they didn't grow up with — university hockey.

The Swedish development system doesn't have a direct equivalent to U SPORTS. Players typically progress through age groups within the same organization, with the opportunity for younger players to move up and eventually play with the men's team.

For the three Swedes, that makes Mount Royal another new chapter in a Canadian hockey experience already filled with them.

Jamaldinov hopes his speed and offensive ability will translate to the university level.

"I think creating plays and opportunities with my speed, and having the puck on my stick," Jamaldinov said. "Try to find my teammates, play with a lot of pace, move my feet a lot and play harder."

They also haven't been left to figure out their new surroundings alone.

Playing alongside returning Cougars has given the rookies a chance to learn from players who already know what it takes to compete at the U SPORTS level.
After skating on a line with veteran Vaughn Watterodt, Jamaldinov said the support from his new teammate made the transition easier.

"He was great to us," Jamaldinov said. "He said if we have questions to just ask, and then after shifts you get a fist bump and he picks us up."

Nilsson, who has held leadership roles before arriving at Mount Royal, has also found himself in a different position as a first-year Cougar.
Rather than immediately trying to take on the same role, he sees an opportunity to learn from MRU's established leaders while setting an example through his own play.

"On the ice, I always want to lead with the way I play, approach the game, set an example and play tough," Nilsson said. "Maybe I feel like I could be a leader for us younger guys. We're all new here, so maybe help in that sense."

Despite different journeys across North America, Ahlberg, Nilsson and Jamaldinov now find themselves together in Calgary, ready to take on another new style of hockey, another new locker room and another new challenge.

And if they could go back and talk to the versions of themselves preparing to leave Sweden for the first time, their advice would be pretty simple.

"Good choice," Ahlberg said.

Nilsson agreed.

"I'd just tell myself you're going to have a great time."

From Sweden to Canada and now to Mount Royal, that choice has brought all three to the same place — ready to begin their first season as Cougars.