Pentti Alexander Lund (December 6, 1925 – April 16, 2013) was a

Finnish Canadian Finnish Canadians are Canadian citizens of Finnish ancestry or Finns who emigrated to and reside in Canada. In 2016, 143,645 Canadians claimed Finnish ancestry. Finns started coming to Canada in the early 1880s, and in much larger numbers in the e ...

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 hock ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

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 ...

. Lund was often credited as being the first Finnish player in the National Hockey League. ( Albert Pudas, however, played 4 games with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

in 1926-1927. Pudas though had the Canadian citizenship from the beginning in Maple Leafs even he was born in Finland.X-lehti https://www.veikkaus.fi/fi/x/nhl-legendat-born-in-the-usa

Junior career

Lund moved to Canada from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

at the age of six. He began his junior career with the local Port Arthur teams in the

Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League (TBJHL) was a Canadian junior ice hockey league that existed from c. 1920 to 1980. The TBJHL operated in Northwestern Ontario, primarily in the Thunder Bay region. The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League wa ...

from 1942 to 1945. Lund lead the league in scoring during his two seasons with the Navy team, where, in 19 regular season games, he scored an impressive 47 goals.

Professional career

Lund turned pro in 1945–46 with the

Boston Olympics The Boston Olympics are a defunct ice hockey team which operated as a farm team for the Boston Bruins. They began play during the 1940–41 Eastern Amateur Hockey League season. The Olympics were often referred to by the shortened name the ‘Pics ...

of the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

, a minor affiliate team of the

. He scored 33 points during the regular season and scored 15 points in 9 playoff games with the Olympics helping the team win a championship. Next season, Lund led the league in scoring with 92 points in 56 games. This helped him garner some fame as he was called up by the Boston Bruins in the

to play in one playoff game. In 1947-48, Lund joined the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the c ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

where his excellent play was rewarded with two playoff game appearances with the Boston Bruins. During the off-season, Lund was traded to the

, where he won the

Calder Memorial Trophy The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League (NHL)." It is named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL. Serving as ...

as rookie of the year by scoring 14 goals and adding 16 assists in 59 games. He also became the first

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

-born player to score a goal in the NHL. In his

second year Second year (also known as S2 in Scotland) is the second year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, and is roughly equivalent to Year 9 in England and Wales and Year 10 (Third Form) in Northern Ireland. M ...

with the Rangers, he scored a career high 18 goals. Lund and the Rangers made a great run to the

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...

as the fourth seeded team. Lund had a great postseason as he recorded 11 points in 12 games. The Rangers would lose the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

to the first-place

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 ...

in seven games. Lund was traded back to the Boston Bruins early in the 1951-52 season. During the season, Lund suffered an eye-injury from a high-stick on November 13, during the 13th game of the season, with Lund skating with number 13 on his jersey, suggesting to many that unlucky number 13 played a role in the injury. The injury was so severe, that he almost lost all sight in his right eye. Lund attempted a comeback after being sidelined for three-months, contributing 17 points with only one eye in 1952-53. Lund would skate for two seasons with the

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (often shortened to Soo Greyhounds) are a Junior ice hockey#Major junior, major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. The Greyhounds play home games at the GFL Memorial Gardens. The present team was ...

before retiring from ice hockey in 1955. On September 29, 1984. Lund was inducted into the

Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, established in 1978 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to the people of Northwestern Ontario who have achieved greatness in sport. It is located on 219 South May Street in Downtown Fort W ...

, and 8 years later, in 1992, was inducted into the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame. He died April 16, 2013 at the age of 87.

Awards and achievements

* Led the

TBJHL The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League (TBJHL) was a Canadian junior ice hockey league that existed from c. 1920 to 1980. The TBJHL operated in Northwestern Ontario, primarily in the Thunder Bay region. The Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League ...

in scoring in 1944, and 1945. * EAHL champion in 1946. * Selected to the EAHL First All-Star Team in 1947. * EAHL Top Scorer in 1947. *

winner in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

. * Inducted into the

in 1984. * Inducted into the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992. * First Finnish-born player to score a goal in the

NHL 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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lund, Pentti 1925 births 2013 deaths Boston Bruins players Boston Olympics players Calder Trophy winners Finnish emigrants to Canada Finnish ice hockey right wingers Ice hockey people from Ontario Naturalized citizens of Canada New York Rangers players Sportspeople from Thunder Bay Canadian ice hockey right wingers