Peter Forsberg has always had a winner’s skull beyond the ordinary.
And a greater team player is hard to find.
His conversation with his father as a 10-year-old certainly proves that.
Peter Forsberg really had it all. Few hockey players have ever been so complete, and it is certainly not common for players to be so skilled both forward and backward, and to have the versatility on the ice that Forsberg had.
Had everything
Peter Forsberg was the genius who could score and assist out of any situation. But he was also a badass, almost impossible to take the puck away from. Forsberg could stand up to any mischief, and it often didn’t even matter if he had the puck or not – the Swede still got his opponent down on the ice with a solid block.
Forsberg also had a winning skull that was almost unique. Foppa carried his team on his shoulders and at times it was almost like he didn’t allow them to lose. Forsberg was known for getting “the look”, when he only saw black and just ran over everything and everyone. It was a trait that earned him two Stanley Cups, and enormous success in both the Olympics and the World Cup with the Three Crowns. And precisely the winning skull and the ability to play for the team, rather than the self, were qualities that he already had at a young age.
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Completely inconsolable
There is a now almost legendary history that proves this more than anything else. A few years ago, the newspaper The Sunday Denver Post wrote a long report with Forsberg, and included a story from when Forsberg was a child. Foppa was a great talent even as a child, but once he came home to dad Kent and was sad. The newspaper even wrote that he was completely inconsolable, and the reason was that Foppa’s team had lost a game with 7-8.
Kent Forsberg asked Peter, then ten years old, if he had at least scored a few goals in the game. And the response was astounding.
– Seven goals, answered Peter.
Even though Peter Forsberg had scored all seven of his team’s goals, he was devastated – because the team had lost. A team player like that just has to be respected. What an incredible player!
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