PHOTO: Bildbyrån + Viaplay
There were huge emotional scenes this weekend when Börje Salming was celebrated.
So even in Viaplay’s NHL studio where close friend Håkan Södergren had difficulty getting the words out.
“Sorry,” says the NHL expert when his voice cracks and he has to stop talking.
The hockey weekend has largely been about Börje Salming and to give the 71-year-old the most powerful tribute. The Swedish hockey icon has been back in his old hometown of Toronto and was honored on the two days in connection with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ double home games.
Tribute to Börje
First it was the Hockey Hall of Fame that paid tribute to Salming on Saturday night and 24 hours later it was time for the NHL team to give their number 21 a tribute of their own. It has really been emotional when thousands in place and millions in front of televisions around the hockey world directed all their thoughts and their great support to the one who deserves it the most right now.
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It also became very emotional in Viaplay’s NHL studio on Sunday when the presenter Niklas Jihde and the experts Håkan Södergren and Valentina Lizana looked back at the weekend and summarized the tribute choir to ALS sufferer Börje Salming.
READ MORE: William Nylander is now praised for the detail during the strong tribute to Börje Salming: “Deserves all respect”
5 words about Salming
Södergren was especially taken by the pictures of his old teammate in Tre Kronor and close friend Börje.
– Hard pictures to see and difficult to comment on, says a very emotional expert in the NHL studio before praising Salming with five fantastic words.
– It is extremely figurative for who Börje Salming is: “I never give a damn!” Sorry, he says before his voice cracks and he can’t speak anymore.
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When Södergren then recovers, he picks out a special memory from the time together with the hockey icon. He remembers when he got the chance to play together with Salming in the hockey World Cup in 1989.
– After 18 seasons in the NHL, he decides to come home as a 39-year-old and play with Tre Kronor during the World Cup in the Globe, together with us who were there then. We didn’t know Börje and had never played with him. But he came into the dressing room, straight from the plane, and shook hands with everyone and said “hi Håkan”, “hi Masken”, “hi Jonas” and he had looked at pictures of us all so he could recognize us, says Södergren in Viaplay, see the video below.
– It really became “wow, he recognizes me” and it became a community where he included us to him and not us to him. That’s how big Börje was, because he was actually bigger than Tre Kronor was then.
READ MORE: Bianca Salming’s beautiful tribute to father Börje on Father’s Day – the words that make everyone’s heart melt
Håkan Södergren continues to talk about how much Börje Salming paved the way for all Swedes in the NHL and what enormous importance he has had for Swedish hockey in North America.
– To this day, we Swedish players in the NHL are called “the Swedish backcourt wonder” and that was entirely his merit, alone, says Södergren in the clip that you can see below.
Watch the video: