Before he got to UConn, Viking Gustaffson Nyberg knew what kind of team he was joining. One of the Huskies’ captains gave up his scholarship for him.
“We didn’t have a scholarship for Viking and Hudson Schandor said, ‘I’ll give up my scholarship for him if he’s going to help the team,’” coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “We were able to make it right with Hudson through some NIL money, but Viking came in last year and just got better as the year went on.”
Now that he’s a Husky, the first question most ask when they play UConn is, “How Tall is No. 6?” The answer is 6 feet 6, so once he’s laced up on skates, he’s closer to 6-8. That makes for quite a site when attackers approach the blue line, and quite an obstacle when they’re on the power play.
Gustafsson Nyberg, a raw talent when he arrived from his native Stockholm, Sweden, is learning to lean into that size advantage for UConn. He played in all 39 games last season, getting a goal and 10 assists and blocking 62 shots. He has already blocked 18 this season as the 13th-ranked Huskies (4-4-2) tackle another important Hockey East opponent, No. 11 Northeastern Friday at Toscano Family Ice Pavilion at 7 p.m. and Saturday at historic Mathews Arena in Boston, which will soon be closing for renovations, at 7:30 p.m. Northeastern has nine points, tied for first in league play, UConn has eight, tied for second.
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“I feel like I’ve taken a bigger step, and I feel like a lot of guys done that,” Gustafsson Nyberg said, “we have a lot of good leaders on the team. It was not really the start we wanted, a few games we felt we could have won, but overall we have a lot of good things going and a lot of good things we could build off of. We’ve got a great culture, a lot of guys who are hungry, wanting to get better.”
Gustafsson Nyberg comes from a hockey family, his father fitting him with skates as a toddler and putting him on the ice to figure things out. Soon he was in love with the game, and Victor Hedman, 34, also a 6-6 defenseman from Sweden, became his natural NHL role model. Gustafsson Nyberg, 22, played two seasons of junior hockey in Sweden, then came to the U.S. to play at Northern Michigan.
Most of the coaches left after his freshman year, including Nick Peruzzi, who joined Cavanaugh’s staff and began pushing for the tall, rangy defenseman with the cool name.
“Nick really advocated for Viking,” Cavanaugh said. “He said, ‘he’s a kid we took when he was a little bit raw, we took him because of size and his ability to skate. He really came on for us.’”
Gustafsson Nyberg arrived at UConn just as the captains, fifth-year seniors Schandor and John Spetz, were establishing a new set of standards, a tale often told last year as the Huskies reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time, and came within an overtime goal of the Frozen Four.
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“That means a lot, Huddy giving up his scholarship,” Gustafsson Nyberg said. “I can’t thank him enough. He was a great leader, Huddy was willing to do stuff like that for the team. He wasn’t a selfish guy, he was always team first, and it made me feel welcome at UConn. (Last season) was something incredible, cool to be a part of.”
After the season, Gustafsson Nyberg participated in the Red Wings’ developmental camp. He’d been in Seattle’s camp the year before, experiences that have helped ignite his college career. The Huskies chose him as one of four captains for this season.
“He’s an elite penalty killer,” Cavanaugh said. “His skill set is a lot better than people give him credit for and his reach is something you can’t teach. To beat him one on one, it’s really hard. Another of our young defenseman, Brendan Dunphy, is trending to be that kind of player. It makes them great penalty killers because they cover so much space and take away so many seams with their sticks. Viking is really materializing into an elite college defender. It’s not going to surprise me to see him playing in the NHL someday.”
In other college hockey action around the state, No. 9 Quinnipiac plays at home Saturday against No. 12 Boston University Saturday at 4 p.m. The state has three women’s teams in the top 10, with No. 10 Yale playing Harvard Friday and Dartmouth Saturday at Ingalls Rink in New Haven. No. 7 Quinnipiac and No.9 UConn are off.