query: country icebreakers
supports: Markus Sten Näslund (born July 30, 1973) is a Swedish retired ice hockey player and former general manager for Modo Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL, formerly named Elitserien). He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers, as well as in the Elitserien with Modo Hockey. Nicknamed "Nazzy" by Canucks fans and "Macke" or "Mackan" in his native Sweden, he was known for his offensive skills, particularly his wrist shot and stickhandling. The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. The club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the Stanley Cup, which they have done four times, most recently in 199394.
  History.
  Early years.
  George Lewis "Tex" Rickard, president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded an NHL franchise for the 192627 season to compete with the now-defunct New York Americans, who had begun play at the Garden the previous season. The Americans (also known as the "Amerks") proved to be an even greater success than expected during their inaugural season, leading Rickard to pursue a second team for the Garden despite promising the Amerks that they would be the only hockey team to play there. The new team was quickly nicknamed "Tex's Rangers".
  Rickard's franchise began play in the 192627 season. The first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. However, Smythe had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-coach on the eve of the first seasonhe was paid a then-hefty $2,500 to leave. Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick. The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner. The Rangers won the American Division title their first year but lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. Icebreakers is an ice hockey team founded in 2002 by ( among others ) Peter Forsberg and Markus Näslund . Their purpose is to raise money for a foundation who give scholarships to handicapped or otherwise needy children . They raise this money not only by playing charity ice hockey games , but also by attending auctions or playing celebrity golf . The team consists of Swedish players in the National Hockey League . The larger part are players who were at one time or another members of the Modo squad . Modo Hockey (or MODO with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. In season 2016-17 the club will be playing in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan after losing a 7-game playoff series to Leksands IF and being relegated from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien) in April 2016. The club was founded in 1921 and has won two SHL championships; in 1979 and 2007. The team's home arena is the Fjällräven Center (previously known as "Swedbank Arena") since 2006. Before then, the team played at Kempehallen, beginning in 1964. The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league currently composed of 31 member clubs. Of the 30 clubs currently playing, 23 are in the United States and 7 in Canada. Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. Peter Mattias "Foppa" Forsberg (born 20 July 1973) is a Swedish retired professional ice hockey player and the current assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. Known for his on-ice vision and physical play, Forsberg is considered one of the greatest players of his generation. Although his career was shortened by persistent injuries, as of 2014, he stands eighth all-time in career points-per-game and fourth all-time in career assists-per-game in the NHL, only behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.
candidates: canada jersey sweden united states
answer: sweden