Former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ulf Samuelsson says the school shooting in the Swedish town where he grew up hit painfully close to home.
Samuelsson, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, spoke with Swedish website Expressen and described how the violence at Brinell School in Fagersta shook him and his family.
“It’s sad that it has to be like this,” Samuelsson told writer Gunnar Nordstrom of Swedish website Expressen. “And there are police cars everywhere near the schools here.
“It’s part of everyday life.”
The former NHL defenseman said he never imagined something like that happening at the school he attended as a teenager in Sweden. The shooting at Brinell School left a 17-year-old girl dead and injured three other students.
Samuelsson, 62, was born and raised in Fagersta, and his sister has grandchildren who currently attend the school. He said the news sparked a difficult stretch for the family.
“There have been many heartbreaking conversations with my sister and her family this past week,” Samuelsson said. “It’s not often you hear Fagersta mentioned on CBS news broadcasts here in Florida.
“My sister told me about how suddenly there were police cars everywhere around the school back home in Fagersta and what had happened. Her grandchildren were not at school that day. They were participating in a trip to Stockholm.”
Samuelsson’s NHL career included a brief stop in Detroit, where he was part of a busy trade deadline day in 1999. The Red Wings acquired him along with Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Chris Chelios, Conn Smythe Trophy-winning goalie Bill Ranford and rugged left-winger Wendel Clark.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Samuelsson was injured soon after arriving in Detroit and appeared in just four games for the Red Wings. That stretch came in his second-to-last NHL season.
Samuelsson played 1,080 NHL games overall, spending time with the Hartford Whalers, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers as well. After his playing career, he spent many years working as an NHL assistant coach.
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