Red Wing brothers to compete in Sweden

Team Bergy is back together.

Daniel Bergeson will be joining Andrew Bergeson for the third leg of the 2012 Red Bull Crashed Ice championships Feb. 17-18 in Are, Sweden.

The two, along with Andrew’s wife Samantha, left for Sweden Tuesday and will be training for the next week in preparation for competition.

Andrew will attempt to rebound from an injury suffered in his last race in Valkenburg, Netherlands, Feb. 3. During the end of his time trial run, Andrew lost his footing and crashed headlong into the side boards, dislocating the AC joint in his shoulder.

“All of the sudden, I’m just eating the boards,” Andrew said. “It hurt my ears it was so loud when I hit the boards. I tried to get up as quick as I could. Right when it happened I knew I wouldn’t be getting another time-trial run.”

He said the Valkenburg track was much more difficult than what the skaters faced in St. Paul.

“Looking at this course, I was so glad I wasn’t a rookie,” Andrew said. “It was way more nuts than the one in St. Paul. Looking back at St. Paul, I feel like I could have been much more competitive … compared to this black diamond we were on.”

Now, the brothers will attack the next course together.

Daniel’s second chance is possible because Cameron Naasz, of Lakeville, was awarded the Mini Rookie Award after the St. Paul competition. The distinction means Naasz is automatically given a spot in every race for the entire 2012 Crashed Ice season and Team USA needed someone to take his spot. As a result, Red Bull told Daniel that as the Team USA alternate, he could join the rest of the 2012 Crashed Ice season if he came up with the cash to pay for his plane ticket to Sweden.

Because of the short turnaround between the St. Paul and Valkenburg events, Daniel was unable to come up with the money in time.

But with the help of Visit Saint Paul and local sponsors, he was able to pay his way overseas. Lake Pepin Innovation LLC and Automated Equipment LLC also helped fund his trip.

Daniel will be allowed to compete fully as a member of Team USA, he said.

“It’s awesome,” Daniel said. “I kind of knew this for the past couple weeks. They told me the inside scoop that ‘you can go to these events but you’ll have to pay your way over.’ I’ve just been game-planning, figuring out the little steps I need to get over there.”

Once there, all expenses will be paid for, Daniel said.

“It’s definitely surreal,” he said.

Daniel explored any option to make it into another competition after being eliminated during the first round of finals in St. Paul. He applied for a lottery system to try out for the Quebec, Canada competition and found out he was a member of Team USA the same day he was selected for entrance into the tryouts in Canada.

“I should have bought a lottery ticket that day,” Daniel said.

Time trial competition for Team USA begins Friday in Sweden.

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