Post by pbonomo on Oct 19, 2007 15:35:56 GMT -5
www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/story/4060645p-4664540c.html
'Shoe' a great fit in North America
Former Jets captain led the Swedish invasion
Fri Oct 19 2007
By Gary Lawless
JON THORDARSON / CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg carries the Avco Cup after the Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-3 to capture the final WHA championship in May, 1979.
LARS-ERIK SJOBERG was a hockey pioneer-- the first non-North American-born player to captain a team in the NHL and a key member of the Swedish invasion that led the Winnipeg Jets to three Avco Cup titles in the 1970s.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Sjoberg's death at 43 due to cancer. He died in 1987 in Uppsala, Sweden, where he acted as chief European scout for the New York Rangers.
Considered one of the finest players produced by Sweden, Sjoberg came to the Winnipeg Jets at 29 and at just 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds, became a dominant player in the North American game.
Compact, but blessed with incredible balance and strength, Sjoberg could not be knocked off the puck. Sjoberg was elected captain of the Jets in his second season with the club and held the honour for five seasons.
Here, 'Shoe' is remembered by several people who were well acquainted with a man who was both a classy player and a great guy.
Jets' Captain Fantastic
Known as Shoe, The Little General or the Professor, Lars-Erik Sjoberg played 15 seasons of pro hockey in Sweden before coming to North America and was captain of the Swedish national team in 1976 at the Canada Cup. Sjoberg played in 134 games for Tre Kronor.
Sjoberg was elected captain by his Winnipeg Jets teammates in 1975 and held that position for five seasons, including the club's first in the NHL.
-- Lawless
Tom McVie (Jets coach in WHA and first season of NHL): "No. 1, Lars was one of the finest gentleman I ever met. I arrived to coach during the last year of the WHA, and Lars was hurt. He had torn his Achilles tendon. I had never seen him skate but he would come to the rink every day and he wore these wooden clogs so I could hear him. The trainers were working on him all the time.
"The club was struggling to make the playoffs and they made a surge and we got in. Now, this is no disrespect to the rest of the team. I coached 27 years and they were by far the best team I ever coached. I don't want to name players because I might forget somebody, but we had talent everywhere. But us winning the last Avco Cup, Lars-Erik Sjoberg was the catalyst."
Don Baizley (Uber-agent, represented Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Sjoberg): "Shoe was small and lots of NHL scouts had a hard time believing he could do in the NHL what he'd done in international competition. He was named the best defenceman at the 1974 world championship. That's just two years after the '72 Summit Series and all the great defencemen the Russians had were at that tournament.
"He played with a cracked rib at that tournament and the Minnesota North Stars had him on their negotiation list. Their scouts came home and said he was too small and the Jets were able to sign him. He was 29 when he came over and Anders and Ulf were a little younger. He was so confident. The younger guys weren't sure they could compete in the North American game but he believed they could."
Vic Grant (Winnipeg Tribune hockey writer during the 1970s): "Lars was one of the classiest hockey players I was ever around. A born leader. The Europeans came over and they went through a lot of crap but he played through it and directed that team from the blue-line. He couldn't fight but he didn't turn the other cheek. He was no chicken Swede, as Don Cherry says."
Joe Daley (Jets goalie): "It's an honour to talk about a man that was so wonderful. We didn't know a lot about these guys when they arrived. We had seen Europeans before and yeah, they were gifted, but not like these guys.
"They came and they were taking the jobs of guys that had been our teammates and our friends. Canadian guys had become expendable because of Lars, Ulf, Anders and Curt (Larsson). So it took some time to adjust. But in the end we were thankful. They were great players, great teammates and great friends. We made Shoe the captain after just one year. That in a nutshell tells you all you need to know about him. We had all kinds of voices in our dressing room. We didn't need another voice. But he led us on the ice with his example."
gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca
'Shoe' a great fit in North America
Former Jets captain led the Swedish invasion
Fri Oct 19 2007
By Gary Lawless
JON THORDARSON / CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg carries the Avco Cup after the Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-3 to capture the final WHA championship in May, 1979.
LARS-ERIK SJOBERG was a hockey pioneer-- the first non-North American-born player to captain a team in the NHL and a key member of the Swedish invasion that led the Winnipeg Jets to three Avco Cup titles in the 1970s.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of Sjoberg's death at 43 due to cancer. He died in 1987 in Uppsala, Sweden, where he acted as chief European scout for the New York Rangers.
Considered one of the finest players produced by Sweden, Sjoberg came to the Winnipeg Jets at 29 and at just 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds, became a dominant player in the North American game.
Compact, but blessed with incredible balance and strength, Sjoberg could not be knocked off the puck. Sjoberg was elected captain of the Jets in his second season with the club and held the honour for five seasons.
Here, 'Shoe' is remembered by several people who were well acquainted with a man who was both a classy player and a great guy.
Jets' Captain Fantastic
Known as Shoe, The Little General or the Professor, Lars-Erik Sjoberg played 15 seasons of pro hockey in Sweden before coming to North America and was captain of the Swedish national team in 1976 at the Canada Cup. Sjoberg played in 134 games for Tre Kronor.
Sjoberg was elected captain by his Winnipeg Jets teammates in 1975 and held that position for five seasons, including the club's first in the NHL.
-- Lawless
Tom McVie (Jets coach in WHA and first season of NHL): "No. 1, Lars was one of the finest gentleman I ever met. I arrived to coach during the last year of the WHA, and Lars was hurt. He had torn his Achilles tendon. I had never seen him skate but he would come to the rink every day and he wore these wooden clogs so I could hear him. The trainers were working on him all the time.
"The club was struggling to make the playoffs and they made a surge and we got in. Now, this is no disrespect to the rest of the team. I coached 27 years and they were by far the best team I ever coached. I don't want to name players because I might forget somebody, but we had talent everywhere. But us winning the last Avco Cup, Lars-Erik Sjoberg was the catalyst."
Don Baizley (Uber-agent, represented Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg and Sjoberg): "Shoe was small and lots of NHL scouts had a hard time believing he could do in the NHL what he'd done in international competition. He was named the best defenceman at the 1974 world championship. That's just two years after the '72 Summit Series and all the great defencemen the Russians had were at that tournament.
"He played with a cracked rib at that tournament and the Minnesota North Stars had him on their negotiation list. Their scouts came home and said he was too small and the Jets were able to sign him. He was 29 when he came over and Anders and Ulf were a little younger. He was so confident. The younger guys weren't sure they could compete in the North American game but he believed they could."
Vic Grant (Winnipeg Tribune hockey writer during the 1970s): "Lars was one of the classiest hockey players I was ever around. A born leader. The Europeans came over and they went through a lot of crap but he played through it and directed that team from the blue-line. He couldn't fight but he didn't turn the other cheek. He was no chicken Swede, as Don Cherry says."
Joe Daley (Jets goalie): "It's an honour to talk about a man that was so wonderful. We didn't know a lot about these guys when they arrived. We had seen Europeans before and yeah, they were gifted, but not like these guys.
"They came and they were taking the jobs of guys that had been our teammates and our friends. Canadian guys had become expendable because of Lars, Ulf, Anders and Curt (Larsson). So it took some time to adjust. But in the end we were thankful. They were great players, great teammates and great friends. We made Shoe the captain after just one year. That in a nutshell tells you all you need to know about him. We had all kinds of voices in our dressing room. We didn't need another voice. But he led us on the ice with his example."
gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca
