Playing regularly in the SHL as a 21 year old goalie sure doesn’t fit the traditional storyline of a late bloomer. With that said, Dennis Hildeby’s career was kind of a bumpy ride up until the breakthrough with Färjestad. Since then, he has won the Swedish championship and earned himself an NHL contract.
To become famous overnight is a figurative speech, referring to a quick and often unexpected breakthrough. Kind of like the one Dennis Hildeby had last season. Long story short: Färjestad brought in a ton of offensive skill during last off season and went in to the season as heavy favourites. The goalie matchup at that point was Henrik Haukeland and Jesper Eliasson but a few weeks later they signed Dominik Furch. Eventually that made Haukeland leave due to lack of playing time and instead of going with Furch and Eliasson Färjestad promoted their J20 goalie Dennis Hildeby.
“As soon as Haukeland moved I got to practice with the mens team. Still, at that point I was kind of on standby, not given any promises. All I knew was that the club wanted to give me a fair chance and not sign anyone else”, Hildeby recalls.
A couple of weeks later Hildeby got his first SHL start, even though he likes to think of it as some kind of prelude.
“Actually my first SHL game was Växjö away, the last game with restrictions due to the pandemic. We also lost”, Dennis says with a laugh.
“I like my second start better, at home against Malmö in front of our fans. And that time we won with 4-1”, he adds.
Won gold after epic battle
Skipping another few weeks ahead, Färjestad, one of the big underachievers of the season, made a big move. Johan Pennerborn got sacked and Thomas Mitell replaced him as head coach going in to the last weeks of the regular season. That display of fingerspitzgefühl from the Färjestad management really turned things around, and probably was essential for them in their playoff campaign. And despite not playing a single post season game, Dennis Hildeby got to hang a gold medal around his neck after an epic series versus Luleå in the finals.
“It was really cool to be part of that journey, seeing how a gold winning team works from up close. Sure, I didn’t want to sit on the bench, but in the end I’ll take it if it gets me a gold medal”, Dennis Hildeby says laughing, and adding:
“If anything, that experience made me want to do it again. But being on the ice instead, of course”.
Dennis Hildeby went from an (more or less) unknown junior player to a gold medalist in just a few months. But what was the story behind the overaged goalkeeper playing junior hockey with Färjestad? Well, a serious injury played a part, just like a firm self-belief, an early move away from home and an unexpected matchmaker.
Already at the age of 15, Dennis Hildeby moved from his parents home in Eskilstuna to Hudiksvall, a city perhaps mostly known for being the home town of Swedish football ace Tomas Brolin.
“It was a cool experience moving from home at such an early age”, Dennis says. “I was really determined and felt that I needed a change of scenery for my development. I also knew I wasn’t going to make the TV-pucken roster for Södermanland.”
Turned down Skellefteå
Moving to the rather small district of Härjedalen proved to be a good choice. The district qualified for the playoff-rounds for the first time in TV-pucken history - with Dennis Hildeby as the goal keeper.
“Before that tourney I didn’t really have any alternatives when it came to hockeygymnasium, but that opened up a few doors. Skellefteå was interested, but after a few tryouts Timrå was my first choice and luckily they wanted me there.”
Those three years of hockeygymnasium proved to be valuable for Dennis Hildeby. He received a lot of help and support from Timrå goalie coach Peter Hirsch, and learned how to cope with the ups and downs of hockey.
“I grew a lot as a person in Timrå, because I went through both good and bad periods. There will always be times when you don’t perform as well as you like. I got to play with the J20 team my second year but put too much pressure on myself and beat myself up even though I played ok. That obviously affected my performance a lot.”
Matchmaking between goalie coaches
To overcome those mental issues Dennis Hildeby sought help from a mental performance coach. After many years of actively working with his psyche, Dennis now values his mental strengths as one of his best assets.
“That was also something I really noticed with Dominik Furch”, Hildeby mentions. “No matter the result, he had the same mood after every game. He never dwelled on a situation or result, always refocusing ahead. To perform on that level throughout a long playoff run I think you have to be able to shift focus fast between games”.
Another helping hand in his carreer came from the above mentioned Peter Hirsch. Still his coach in Timrå, Hirsch actually encouraged Hildeby to leave the club for Färjestad.
“Peter (Hirsch) knew Maciej Szwoch, the goalie coach in Färjestad, really well and they had talked about me moving there”, Dennis says. “Peter asked me what I thought and even though it was kind of sad leaving Timrå it felt like a good move for me.”
Large parts of that final season as a junior player was ruined by injuries. At the end of the season Dennis had double hip surgeries, which explains why he still played junior hockey when being called up to the SHL in January 2022.
And now, a year later, he has won a gold medal, been drafted and signed his first NHL contract. Things have really moved fast for the young goalie.
“Yeah, I never expected this”, he says frankly. “Sure, I aimed towards SHL but in like three or four years. And then it all happened at once, which is kind of crazy. I really try to enjoy it.”
With Färjestad gearing up – they are now in the top four of the standings – it seems like it might well be another enjoyable spring in Karlstad. Perhaps this time with Dennis Hildeby on the ice.