Mats Sundin
#13
Captain
...
He
soars down the left side, keeping close to the boards where he can guard
the puck. A defenceman, from the opposing team, tries to steal the
puck from the 6'4" Maple Leaf captain, but he doesn't succeed and Mats
makes a good hard pass to his left-winger Steve Thomas. As Mats speeds
toward the opposing goalie the defenceman returns and checks Mats hard,
but the #13 takes the hit and continues in time to sneak Thomas' rebound
in through the goalie's pads with his famous back hander. The goal
light goes on and the point is added up on the board. Mats Sundin
is appointed the game winner. The announcer in the A.C. Center announces
the 3 Stars and the fans cheer as they hear the name of their captain announced
as the 1st Star!
Sweden is a small country with only about 8 million people. It's national sport, like Canada, is hockey. Swedish kids can either dream about playing in the Swedish Elite League and the big international tournaments or the "Big League"...the NHL, partially thanks to the '72 Summit Series who helped open the door for European hockey players into the NHL!
Mats
grew up in Bromma, Sweden a suburb of Stockholm. He started playing
hockey at 7 years old with his brothers. Although Mats was proud to play
for Sweden, when he was 17 he decided he wanted to play in North America.
At 18 years old he was told by his agent that the Quebec Nordiques were
interested in him. He was their #1 choice and by the 1990-91 season
he was wearing their jersey. It was hard for him, the team had finished
last the season before and allot of pressure was pushed onto his shoulders
as people expected him to carry the team to success. Here is a quote
from the book: For the Love of Hockey:
"The
whole Quebec experience was good for me as a person as much as a hockey
player. I learned that if I'm not having fun, hockey is hard for
me. I had to learn allot about myself and discover ways to stay motivated.
As a professional, you have to be developing yourself as a player even
when the team is not competitive."
Mats
found out that he was being traded to Toronto. He was looking forward
to going to a city that cared so much about hockey. In fact, he once
said about Ontario's Capital:
"I
love playing here, this is the best hockey city to play in. I'd rather
be in a city where hockey is big entertainment than in a city where they
don't care about it."
www.allwall.com
Born:
February
13 1972, Bromma Sweden
Last
Amateur Club: Djugarden
Positon:
Center
Shoots:
Right
Height:
6'4"
Weight:
230
lbs
Sponsor:
Nike
Childhood
Hockey Heroes: Kent Nilsson, Mats Naslund,
Mario Lemieux
NHL
honours: NHL All-Star Game (1996, 1997,
1998, 1999)
He
played his first game with the Nordiques in September 1990, Mats
was their 1st
draft
pick in '89. They later signed a 5 year contract.
Traded
by Quebec with Garth Butcher, Todd Warriner and future considerations to
Toronto for Wendel Clark, Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson and the '94 1st
round draft pick, who turned out to be Jeffrey Kealty, on June 28 1994.
Mats is a big, strong, fast skater. He is well-conditioned, a great stickhandler and a good playmaker. He has a great shot, especially his backhand. He has great leadership and he believes in leading by example on the ice and well-representing the organization. He says the dressing room stuff just falls into place.
Toronto Maple Leafs (Left to Right)
Dimitri Yushkevich, Steve Thomas, Mats
Sundin and Daniil Markov celebrate
Sundin's game winning goal during third period
NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal
action against the Philadelphia Flyers in
Toronto on Saturday, April
24, 1999. The Leafs won the game 2-1 (CP PHOTO/Kevin Frayer)
NHL STATS
