Red Wings Pick Punked By Norwegian Hockey Icon

One of the thrills of playing for Norway at the IIHF World Championship for Detroit Red Wings 2024 first-round draft pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygard was getting the chance to skate on a line with Norwegian NHL icon Mats Zuccarello.

“It was just a good experience to play with him,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “I can only speak for myself but I know Mats Zuccarello was a big role model. I look up to him.”

Witnessing history as Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is the first ever Norwegian born player to be selected in the first round! 🇳🇴👀

🎥 via @BR_OpenIce

pic.twitter.com/GirYQgBWp2

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 29, 2024

So imagine Brandsegg-Nygard’s surprise when he was punked by his childhood hero.

At the tournament, Brandsegg-Nygard and fellow teenager Stian Solberg – also a first-rounder at the 2024 draft – were rooming together in the team’s Czech hotel.

Upon returning to the hotel following a sightseeing journey into Prague, Solberg and Brandsegg-Nygard were immediately overcome by a pungent odor emanating throughout their room. Unbeknowneset to the young players, while they were out, Zuccarello and Patrick Thoresen, another Norwegian hockey legend, filled their room with stinky blue cheese.

“Me and Stian were down in town in Prague,” Brandsegg-Nygard relayed to writer Uffe Bodin of Hockeysverige.se. “Then Mats and Thoresen bought blue cheese. The kind of cheese that smells absolutely awful. Then they took small pieces and placed them around the room. When we got back it smelled so damn bad.

“We went down to the reception and had the owner of the hotel come up with two caretakers who started examining the fridge and a lot of stuff.”

Thoresen and Zuccarello would show up, wondering what all the fuss was about. Brandsegg-Nygard was certain that he knew the cause of the odor.

“I thought it smelled like when you haven’t changed the filter on the car’s AC,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “Mats and Thoresen thought it was unbelievable because they knew it was the cheese when I was sure it was the AC.”

It wasn’t until they were ready to depart the event that the two veterans would own up to their prank.

“They didn’t say anything until we were at the airport on our way home,” Brandsegg-Nygard said.

Red Wings Pick Okay With Being Pranked

He’s of the opinion that the pranking will prove to be good preparation for when the day comes that he’s an NHL rookie with the Red Wings.

“Then you can take it,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “I think.”

Even though it would be his childhood heroes who were punking him, Brandsegg-Nygard isn’t losing any respect for them.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (Oslo, Norway) was selected 15th overall by the @DetroitRedWings and became the first Norwegian-born player called in the first round of an #NHLDraft.

DYK? At the 2024 World Championship he finished third for his country in scoring behind Mats… pic.twitter.com/eeoP4So494

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 29, 2024

“It meant a lot to be able to play with them,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “It was fun to get to know ‘Zucca’ as well. You have seen him at home in the hall in Oslo and heard so much about him.

“So I really liked just being able to talk to him, and play with him of course.

“He said to me just to keep my shots down. He’s gonna pass the puck to me so I can shoot.”