Gustaf Oliver Forslund (April 25, 1908 – August 4, 1962) was a Swedish-born Canadian professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
right wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
player. In the
1932–33 season, he became the first Swedish-born player in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
, and played 48 games for the
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1926 to 1941, was spent in various minor leagues.
Early life
Gustaf Forslund was born in
Holmsund
Holmsund is a locality situated in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 5,489 inhabitants in 2010. It is located 18 km south of the city of Umeå and serves as a port for Umeå.
Position
Holmsund lies at the mouth of the Um ...
in
Västerbotten, Sweden to Lars Anton Forslund and his wife Ida Maria Fällman. When he was still a child, his family moved to
Fort William and later
Port Arthur, Ontario
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay.
Port Arthur had been the district seat o ...
.
Playing career
First playing professional hockey for the Port Arthur Ports at age 20, he transferred to the Fort William Forts one year later. In 1929 he moved to Minnesota to play for the Duluth Hornets of the
American Hockey Association (1926–1942). Playing 48 games for the Ottawa Senators in
1932–33, Forslund became the first Swede to play in the NHL. He scored a total of 13 points, 4 goals and 9 assists.
He went on to play for the Windsor Bulldogs of the
International Hockey League (1929–1936)
The International Hockey League was a professional hockey league operating in Canada and the United States from 1929 to 1936. It is one of two direct ancestors of the American Hockey League.
It was formed when the Canadian Professional Hockey Le ...
and the Philadelphia Arrows and New Haven Eagles in the
Can-Am Hockey League. He ended his career playing in the Thunder Bay Senior League until 1941. In 1939–40, Forslund led the Thunder Bay Senior League with 39 points in 24 games.
After hockey
After retiring, Forslund helped organise youth hockey. After his wife died at 39, he was left to raise their two children alone. He died from a stroke in 1962 when he was 54.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
External links
*
Obituary at LostHockey.com*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forslund, Gus
1908 births
1962 deaths
Canadian ice hockey right wingers
Duluth Hornets players
Ice hockey people from Ontario
New Haven Eagles players
Ottawa Senators (1917) players
People from Umeå Municipality
Philadelphia Arrows players
Sportspeople from Thunder Bay
Swedish emigrants to Canada
Swedish ice hockey players
Sportspeople from Västerbotten County
Windsor Bulldogs (1929–1936) players