Strauss Is The Man For Skelleftea

He's coming to your town, he's gonna shut you down

He's our American Mann

Okay, so maybe that's not what the fans are chanting at Skelleftea home games this season, but wouldn't it be cool if they did?

It would most certainly be appropriate.

Strauss Mann is the big story when it comes to the Swedish Hockey League. It would be wrong to suggest that the 28-year-old netminder is lighting up the league.

In fact, what he is doing is preventing red lights from going on across the league. Soon, perhaps better than any goalie in SHL history.

In 24 games this season, Mann has posted nine shutouts. That ties him with Fredrik Norrena (2003-04 Linkoping) and Oscar Ahlsenfelt (2016-17 Malmo) for the SHL single-season record. One more whitewash and he'll hold the record all to himself.

"It feels completely crazy," Mann told Swedish website Aftonbladet. "It's the first time I've experienced something like this. You can't really work specifically for something like this. Sometimes the pucks bounce right, and sometimes the whole team gets a good flow. The only thing I know is that I can never do it alone.

"I just try to give my best every time, and I know the team does the exact same thing. I take it as it comes and hope it continues in the same way."

Mann Finding Wisdom With Maturity

Mann owns a .926 save percentage and a 1.61 goals-against average this season, a campaign that's proving to be a revelation for the journeyman puckstopper. The former Michigan Wolverines goalie has played for six teams across four leagues since turning pro in 2021-22. This is his second tour of duty for Skelleftea, where he launched his pro career in 2021-22. He's also played in the AHL with the San Jose Barracudas and the Laval Rocket. Other than an impressive stint with the USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics, for the most part, Mann has operated under the hockey radar.

At times, that's taken a toll on his psyche, as he candidly admitted on his Instagram account.

"I've been trying to be more open and vulnerable lately and share different parts of my journey," Mann wrote. "There are many athletes who go through very tough times but choose not to talk about it, perhaps because of fear of being judged. I've felt that a lot myself,

"It's probably been creeping up on me for a long time. I've been very self-critical and felt like I had a lot to prove. Sometimes, matches have felt like life or death. After a loss, I could feel bad for a long time, and if I conceded a lot of goals, the statistics could drive me crazy. I often took that feeling home to my family.

"It's not like everything has completely changed now, but I've gotten better at letting it go. And that makes hockey a lot more fun."