PHOTO: Bildbyrån/Youtube
Börje Salming was not exactly slow to earn respect when he came to the NHL.
The icon’s teammates in the Toronto Maple Leafs were shocked when Salming went after Dave Schultz – who was considered the toughest player in the league.
– I don’t know if I got respect, but then they knew that I don’t step away, Börje Salming has previously said in the program “In the head of Gunde Svan”.
That everyone’s Börje Salming was an absolutely fantastic ice hockey player is not exactly a secret, but he was also not a player who backed away when things got a little more physical. It became especially clear during the 1970s when Salming joined the Toronto Maple Leafs, and immediately showed that even the Swedes could be tough.
First fight
In the program “In the head of Gunde Svan”, the ice hockey icon told about the first meeting with the league’s toughest team at the time, the Philadelphia Flyers, who at the time were led by the tough guys Bobby Clarke and Dave Schultz. It was already in the second NHL game that Börje Salming had “the great pleasure” of meeting the latter of them.
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Schultz wanted to show where the cabinet should be, and thus challenged Salming to a fight.
– The tough damn Dave Schultz, the madman who I didn’t know who he was pushed me, then we ended up on the blue line and started fighting, Börje Salming has previously said in the program.
His teammates in Toronto were shocked, but as so many times before, Börje Salming took it all in stride.
– After the first period we went into the dressing room and then he who was sitting next to me said: “Do you know who that was? It was the toughest player in the league”.
– I don’t know if I got respect, but then they knew that I don’t step away.
READ MORE: Absolutely decisive move – which was about to stop Börje Salming’s powerful tribute: “I had my hunches”
“They were terrible”
No one could have expected that Börje Salming would take the fight against the mischievous Dave Schultz, and the teammates were surprised to say the least.
– They probably wondered what I was doing. “What the hell is the Swede doing?”, they asked themselves, says Börje.
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Salming also believes that the opponents, especially in the Philadelphia Flyers, did everything they could to stop his progress. And it was not infrequent that the methods were tough to say the least.
– They were terrible. It could be drawing at their booth and then they said “Salming if you hit the puck we will kill you, you are dead”. They hung over me.
READ MORE: Börje Salming always welcomed Swedes to the NHL in the same way – and it’s pure respect: “Never forget”
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