Ulf Sterner

Ulf Sterner
IIHF Hall of Fame , 2001
Date of birth	February 11, 1941
place of birth	Deje , Sweden
size	188 cm
Weight	84 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 1961	Forshaga IF
1961-1964	Västra Frölunda IF
1964-1965	Baltimore Clippers
1965-1967	Rögle BK
1967-1968	Färjestad BK
1968-1969	Västra Frölunda IF
1969-1973	Färjestads BK
1973-1974	London Lions
1974-1977	Baking HC
1977-1988	Vänersborgs HC

Ulf Ivar Erik Sterner (born February 11, 1941 in Deje ) is a former Swedish ice hockey player (left winger) who played for the New York Rangers in 1965 as the first player to be trained in Europe in the National Hockey League .

Career

At the age of 15 he was playing in the second division of Sweden for Forshaga IF and the boy caused a stir. At the age of 17 years and nine months, the nimble and very skilful star became the youngest Swedish international and scored his first goal in his first international match on November 12, 1959.

He was also taken to the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics . In Sweden he moved to Frölunda HC in Gothenburg and internationally he regularly took part in world championships. He then won the title with the Tre Kronor team at the 1962 Ice Hockey World Championship in Colorado Springs and Denver , USA. The following year, the 1963 Ice Hockey World Championship took place in Stockholm . In the penultimate game against Canada, Sterner defeated the Canadians almost single-handedly with a hat trick, but a narrow defeat in the last game against Czechoslovakia prevented them from defending their title.

For the 1964/65 season he was the first player to learn ice hockey in Europe to make the leap into the NHL. In addition to four games with the New York Rangers , he also played in the minor couches with the Baltimore Clippers in the American Hockey League and the St. Paul Rangers in the CPHL .

He returned to Sweden after a year and played there for several successful years for Rögle BK and Färjestad BK . In 1973 he moved to England to join the London Lions for a year .

In the late 80s, Sterner coached some German second division teams. 1986/87 to SV Bayreuth , 1987/88 the upstart EC Hedos Munich and 1988/89 the EV Fussen .

In 2001 he was honored with the induction into the IIHF Hall of Fame .

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	1	4th	0	0	0	0
Playoffs	-	-	-	-	-	-

Awards

• 1962 ice hockey world champion
• 1963 guldpucken
• 1964 silver medal at the Olympic Games
• 1967 silver medal at the world championship
• 1969 silver medal at the world championship
• 1969 Best striker in the Ice Hockey World Championship
• 1970 silver medal at the world championship
• Five silver medals and one bronze medal at ice hockey world championships

Web links

• Ulf Sterner at hockeydb.com (English)
• Ulf Sterner at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Ulf Sterner in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )