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Ronald Pettersson

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Ronald Pettersson
Hockey Hall of Fame, 2004
Born (1935-04-16)16 April 1935
Surahammar, Sweden
Died 6 March 2010(2010-03-06) (aged 74)
Gothenburg, Sweden
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Right wing
Shot Left
Played for Surahammars IF
Södertälje SK
Västra Frölunda IF
Playing career 1951–1967

Erik Ronald "Sura-Pelle" Pettersson (16 April 1935 – 6 March 2010) was a Swedish ice hockey player. He played 252 international games for Sweden between 1955 and 1967, including thirteen World Championships and three Olympic Games. Between 1951 and 1967 Pettersson played for Surahammars IF, Södertälje SK and Västra Frölunda IF. He won the Swedish championship twice, in 1956 with Södertälje and in 1965 with Västra Frölunda. He won Guldpucken in 1959–60 as the most valuable player in Swedish Championship playoffs.[1]

After suffering a career-ending injury in 1967, Pettersson took on the role as head coach for the Swedish national junior team from 1968 to 1974, the Swedish national senior team from 1974 to 1976, and the Norwegian national men's team from 1978 to 1981. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2004,[1][2] and his jersey #14 was retired by Västra Frölunda in 2002.

Early life

Pettersson was born in Surahammar, a rural industrial town where the name Ronald was unusual, thus the locals nicknamed him Collman, after the famous actor Ronald Colman. Pettersson was a natural athletic talent,[3] in his youth he played tennis and table tennis with good results. He started playing bandy as a goalkeeper since his skating was of poor quality, as he developed his skating ability he moved to the outfield. He played his first ice hockey game with Surahammars IF's senior team in an exhibition game against Avesta BK during the autumn of 1952.

Playing career

During the 1952–53 season Pettersson debuted at age 17 for his hometown team Surahammars IF in Division 1, the highest level of ice hockey in Sweden at the time. He played five games, scoring no goals. The following season Pettersson played ten games, scoring nine goals, only one goal shy of the team's scoring leader Arne Holmgren. Surahammar were relegated to Division 2 for the 1954–55 season, where Pettersson set a new club record as he scored 23 goals in seven games.[4] In 1955 Pettersson left Surahammar as he was enlisted to do conscript service in the Swedish Navy, stationed in Stockholm's archipelago.[3] In Stockholm he was supposed to sign a contract with Djurgårdens IF, but rival club Södertälje SK were faster with the transfer papers and Pettersson signed with them instead.[3] In 1956 he won the Swedish Championship with Södertälje, scoring one goal in the decisive game against Djurgården which Södertälje won 3–1.[5]

International play

Ronald Pettersson

Medal record
Representing  Sweden
Olympic
Silver medal – second place 1964 Innsbruck Team
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1957 Moscow Team
Bronze medal – third place 1958 Oslo Team
Gold medal – first place 1962 Colorado Springs Team
Silver medal – second place 1963 Stockholm Team
Bronze medal – third place 1965 Tampere Team
Silver medal – second place 1967 Vienna Team

Pettersson played for Sweden in all thirteen international championships between 1955 and 1967, totaling 252 games for the national team. Pettersson, a right winger, together with centre Nisse Nilsson and left winger Lars Erik Lundvall, formed the legendary ungdomskedjan (youth line), one of the most successful and considered as Tre Kronor's best line ever.[3][6]

He made his debut for Juniorkronorna in February 1954,[3] and for Tre Kronor when they played two games against Norway in Stockholm on 26 and 27 November 1954.[3] He was selected to Tre Kronor's roster for the 1955 World Championship, he scored his first tournament goal, assisted by Sven "Tumba" Johansson, in a 9–0 win against Poland in the last game of the championship.

Playing style

Pettersson was a hard-working right winger,[3] who played an efficient game and made every minute on the ice count. He was a fast skater, and had a well-developed goal-scoring ability.[3] He was considered a team player, not a crowd pleaser or a man for newspaper headlines, despite his natural athletic talent. Like a chess player he always thought one step ahead, knewing what do to when he received the puck, he was sly, cunning, coldblooded and could always do unexpected moves. His passing game was of high quality and precision, he was a good shooter but rarely used powerful shots, instead he preferred well placed precision shots which had a remarkable ability to find the net.

Legacy

With his 252 games Pettersson is ranked fourth all-time in games played for Tre Kronor.[7] His feat was long considered an unbreakable record, but he was surpassed by Thomas Rundqvist in 1993 and later by Jonas Bergqvist and Jörgen Jönsson.

He was inducted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 2004.[8]

He became the fiftieth ice hockey player to receive Stora Grabbars Märke.

His jersey #14 is retired by Frölunda.[8] In 2003 he was inducted as an honour member in Surahammars IF.[9]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1952–53 Surahammars IF Division 1 5 0 — 0 0 — — — — —
1953–54 Surahammars IF Division 1 10 9 — 9 2 — — — — —
1954–55 Surahammars IF Division 2 7 23 — 23 8 2 4 — 4 0
1955–56 Södertälje SK Division 1 10 11 — 11 — 6 8 — 8 —
1956–57 Södertälje SK Division 1 14 12 13 25 2 6 5 3 8 0
1957–58 Södertälje SK Division 1 14 24 15 39 2 6 5 2 7 2
1958–59 Södertälje SK Division 1 14 14 7 21 6 — — — — —
1959–60 Södertälje SK Division 1 14 19 16 35 10 6 7 1 8 12
1960–61 Västra Frölunda IF Division 2 14 33 — 33 — 6 9 — 9 —
1961–62 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 14 9 13 22 — 7 4 4 8 —
1962–63 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 13 23 14 37 — 7 3 1 4 —
1963–64 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 21 20 10 30 20 — — — — —
1964–65 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 14 3 6 9 23 14 14 2 16 2
1965–66 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 21 12 17 29 18 8 8 3 11 6
1966–67 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 20 16 13 29 14 7 4 3 7 0
1967–68 Västra Frölunda IF Division 1 14 11 5 16 8 — — — — —
Division 1 totals 198 183 129 312 105 67 58 19 77 22
Division 2 totals 21 56 — 56 8 8 13 — 13 0

International

Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
1955 Tre Kronor WC 8 1 0 1 —
1956 Tre Kronor OG 9 5 0 5 —
1957 Tre Kronor WC 7 9 7 16 —
1958 Tre Kronor WC 7 5 5 10 0
1959 Tre Kronor WC 8 6 0 6 —
1960 Tre Kronor OG 7 4 8 12 2
1961 Tre Kronor WC 7 5 2 7 —
1962 Tre Kronor WC 7 3 4 7 0
1963 Tre Kronor WC 7 3 1 4 0
1964 Tre Kronor OG 7 3 3 6 2
1965 Tre Kronor WC 7 5 3 8 2
1966 Tre Kronor WC 7 2 2 4 2
1967 Tre Kronor WC 4 1 0 1 0

Football career

Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1961 IFK Göteborg 14 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Pettersson had a two-year stint with IFK Göteborg in Allsvenskan,[10] the top level football league in Sweden. When Pettersson was acquired by Västra Frölunda IF in 1960, Västra Frölunda's manager Anders Bernmar had talked IFK Göteborg into helping Västra Frölunda with the acquisition, after convincing them that Pettersson not only was a good ice hockey player but a good football player too.[11] During the 1960 season, his first season with IFK, he scored two goals in eight matches in Allsvenskan, and fourteen goals in seven friendly matches. IFK Göteborg finished eight in Allsvenskan. The following season Pettersson scored two goals in six matches in Allsvenskan and matched the numbers in friendly matches. IFK Göteborg won bronze this season, Västra Frölunda had won promotion to Division 1 in ice hockey and Pettersson did not play football again.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Ronald Pettersson. sports-reference.com
  2. ^ Ronald Pettersson. Swedish Olympic Committee
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Björklund 2002, pp. 34
  4. ^ Pointscoring (in Swedish), Surahammars IF, retrieved 2008-12-13
  5. ^ En legend hyllas i Södertälje (in Swedish), Svenska Hockeyligan AB, 2007-12-07, archived from the original on 2008-02-07, retrieved 2008-12-13
  6. ^ Nilsson, Kjell (2003-12-03), "Svenskar in i hockeyns Hall of Fame", Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish), archived from the original on 2008-12-17, retrieved 2008-12-12
  7. ^ 200-klubben (PDF) (in Swedish), Swedish Ice Hockey Association, 2008-06-06, archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-12-30, retrieved 2008-12-13
  8. ^ a b Stor dag för Surahammar: Ronald "Sura-Pelle" Pettersson och Ove Dahlberg invalda i IIHF:s Hall of Fame (in Swedish), Swedish Ice Hockey Association, 2003-12-04, retrieved 2008-12-13
  9. ^ Hedersmedlemmar i Surahammars IF (in Swedish), Surahammars IF, retrieved 2008-12-13
  10. ^ a b Jönsson 2004, pp. 281–282
  11. ^ Szemberg 1994, p. 72

References

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