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