At the World Junior Championship held in December 1999 and January 2000 in Umeo and Skelleftea, Sweden, a smiling, middle-aged man could often be seen in the Swedish camp. The Junior Tre Kronor general manager, Stefan Persson, was trying to give back to hockey what hockey had given to him. A brilliant defenseman during the 1980s, Persson had indeed been given much.
Persson was with the NHL's New York Islanders for four Stanley Cup wins. Few Canadians or Americans can boast of this kind of success.
But Persson's record is also remarkable because those wins were in four successive years: 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. He also set another record with the Islanders, playing more games than any other Swedish player.
During nine seasons with the Islanders, including playoffs, Persson played in 724 games, scored 59 goals and made 367 scoring passes. He sent the four diamond rings he received for the four Stanley Cup wins to his father, Gosta, in the northern city of Pitea, where he'd begun his hockey career.
Persson was born on December 22, 1954, and made his debut as a defenseman with Pitea IF. In 1973 he joined Brynas. While with Brynas, he received his first national championship silver medal and two national championship gold medals, in 1976 and 1977. Then he went overseas to play in the NHL. Back home after his NHL career ended, Persson joined Sweden's big-league Boras HS and was later given an administrative position with the team. After that he was asked to become the national junior team's general manager.
