Kenth Thure "Nubben" Norberg (born June 12, 1967) is a retired

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

professional ice hockey player and head coach. He later became the

sports manager An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the ...

Timrå IK Timrå IK is a professional Swedish ice hockey team based in Timrå, north of Sundsvall. It competes in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), which is the top-tier league in Sweden, since being promoted by winning 2021 SHL qualifiers. Previous sea ...

in the Swedish

Swedish Elite League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Swedish ice hockey cham ...

(SEL).

Playing career

Norberg debuted as a young player for

Sollefteå HK Sollefteå HK, also sometimes referred to as Sollefteå Hockey, is a Swedish ice hockey club which, , plays in Division 1, the third tier of ice hockey in Sweden Ice hockey in Sweden has a history going back to at least 1912 and is one of the ...

, and during his second season in 1987 he helped the team take a surprising spot in

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

in the spring of 1988. After Sollefteå, Norberg was signed by

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team currently plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan after losing to HV71 after the play out following the 2024/25 se ...

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. Following a good debut season in Elitserien, Norberg had trouble establishing himself as a sophomore. He signed with recently demoted

Skellefteå AIK Skellefteå AIK is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Skellefteå. They currently play In the Swedish Hockey League. They play their home games in Skellefteå Kraft Arena, which seats 6,001 spectators. The team has won the Swedish Ch ...

the following season, and became one of the team's most valuable players. After four seasons with Skellefteå AIK, Norberg signed with

where he played his final three seasons before retirement.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Norberg took the job as assistant coach to

Peo Larsson PEO may stand for: * Parking enforcement officer, an official who issues parking tickets * Plasma electrolytic oxidation, a surface-treatment process for metals * Polyethylene oxide, alternate name for Polyethylene glycol, a polymer * Old Persian, ...

in Timrå IK in 1997. Together they managed to bring Timrå back to Elitserien in 2000. In their first Elitserien season they managed to avoid

Kvalserien Kvalserien, also known as ''Kvalserien till SHL'', was the Swedish round-robin ice hockey tournament to qualify for play in the next season of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL, previously named Elitserien), Sweden's top-level ice hockey league f ...

Management career

Prior to the 2001–02 season Norberg left Larsson's side and took the job as the

for Timrå. Timrå struggled and Norberg was forced to fire his former coaching partner Larsson. Timrå led by interim head coach Lars Molin avoided relegation and won Kvalserien. During the off season Norberg's competence was questioned by some. The already struggling team lost their star player

Henrik Zetterberg Henrik Zetterberg (; born 9 October 1980) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward. He played his entire National Hockey League career, from 2002 to 2018, with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Bursting onto the ...

to the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. Norberg signed several relatively unknown players such as

Niklas Nordgren Niklas Nordgren (born June 28, 1979) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward. He began and finished his career playing for Modo Hockey in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Playing career Nordgren was drafted by the Carolina Hurrican ...

Sanny Lindström Sanny Lindström (born December 24, 1979) is a Sweden, Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the Swedish Hockey League. Playing career Lindström was drafted in the fourth round, 112th overall in the 1999 NHL Entry Draf ...

, and goaltender

Kimmo Kapanen Kimmo Kapanen (born September 12, 1974) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently working as the sporting director of Oulun Kärpät. Kapanen played for several Finnish teams during his career including Ässät, ...

. The team led by new head coach

Kent Johansson Kent "Lill-Kenta" Johansson (born 13 April 1956) is a retired Swedish ice hockey player, former head coach of Frölunda HC in Elitserien. Playing career Johansson started his playing career with Huddinge IK in the Swedish tier two league in ...

surprised everyone as they finished third in the regular season and reaching the semifinals in the playoff. Norberg was praised for his effort, being commended as leader of the year by the ice hockey journalist association. Norberg continued to work for Timrå as the sports manager until February 4, 2008, when

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

announced that he would induct their general manager position on May 1, 2008. Timrå announced the same day that they had released Norberg despite the fact that he had another four years remaining on his contract. Norberg is the first person in Elitserien with the title General Manager. Norberg resigned from Frölunda HC mid-season during the 2010–11 season. After Timrå's then sports manager Stefan Lindqvist had been forced out from the organization, Norberg re-joined Timrå as the club's sports manager.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norberg, Kent 1967 births Living people Modo Hockey players Skellefteå AIK players Timrå IK players Swedish ice hockey forwards Swedish ice hockey general managers Sportspeople from Härnösand Ice hockey people from Västernorrland County