PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He is a real legend in Swedish hockey.
Now the icon Thomas Steen recalls an unforgettable memory from his career.
When he left a night out in North America and went straight to the Hockey World Cup.
With an incredible 817 points in 950 games in the NHL is Thomas Steen one of Swedish hockey’s truly great legends. The Swede is also one of the few to have the jersey hoisted to the ceiling in two different arenas, both the Winnipeg Jets and the Arizona Coyotes have retired his jersey number 25.
Steen’s career
There were a total of 14 NHL seasons for the Winnipeg Jets and in 12 of them the center scored at least 50 points. In Sweden, he represented Leksand for four seasons in the Elitserien and won SM gold in his only season with Färjestad in 1981.
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Steen can also show off double World Cup silver with Three Crowns in the trophy cabinet and represented Sweden in over 100 international matches. Today, he is 62 years old and looks back on his career with warmth.
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Hockey World Cup -86
Above all, one particular moment has been etched in the memory and it is from the hockey World Cup in 1986. Steen had just left the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Winnipeg Jets and was out with the team when a phone call from the Tre Kronor manager Olle East suddenly came in the middle of the night.
– When we went out of the playoffs with Winnipeg that season, we all went to a Greek restaurant and had a karaoke party. It was crazy fun and everyone let loose. We were there until five in the morning. Then Olle called: “There’s a plane leaving at eight o’clock”. “Yes, I’m coming” (laughter), says the hockey icon in an interview with HockeySverige.
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All said and done, Steen immediately changed his mind and headed to Sweden – and it would be a very long journey for the NHL Swede.
– I went home, changed clothes and packed a bag at the same time as I was extremely tired. First I had to fly to New York. Tomas Jonsson joined there. We flew to Stockholm. Jonsson was also tired. Palme had been shot in February and Ingvar Carlsson was going on his first trip abroad as prime minister. Our plane was delayed so he had to sit at Arlanda and wait for me and Jonsson because we had a match in Moscow in the evening and were going on the same plane, he says in the interview.
– We tried on the costumes at the airport, but everything went so fast that we didn’t even get our stuff with us. When we arrive in Moscow, Ingvar had to wait because we were quickly going to the morning warm-up. We had to get off the plane first. Then the entire welcoming committee for Ingvar was there and a band playing for the two of us.
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“What the hell are you saying?”
When Steen and Jonsson arrived at the ice rink in Moscow, they had no equipment with them at all. The duo had to borrow skates, helmets and other things from their teammates in Tre Kronor.
– Afterwards, Olle Öst asked how it went for us: “It went well,” I said. But Jonsson had found it very difficult to ride on borrowed skates. Olle asked if we would join in the evening and I said yes. “What the hell are you saying?”, said Jonsson (laughter). He had had to borrow Lasse Lindgren’s red old Titan, which was very heavy, Thomas Steen tells the hockey site.
Both of them were still there and played against the Czech Republic in the evening and Sweden would win 3-2 in the WC match. How did Steen do with borrowed equipment? Yes, he scored one of the goals and was named the best player of the match.
It ended with a World Cup silver for Tre Kronor and Thomas Steen scored eight goals in eight games in the hockey World Cup in 1986. And got a memory for life with this incredible anecdote from the past.
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