Jan. 27, 1965 - Ulf Sterner (pictured) didn’t score a goal tonight or even pick up an assist. But the way his cubicle in the Ranger dressing room was surrounded by reporters, you would have thought he was the first European ever to play in the NHL. He is.
The Rangers defeated the Boston Bruins, 5-2, to the delight of the 15,364 hockey fans at Madison Square Garden.
“Mycket bra, mycket bra,” an excited Swedish journalist screamed to Sterner. “Thank you,” Ulf answered in halting English.
“Mycket bra” means “very good” in Swedish, which was a bit of an overstatement. Ulf was good, but no better than a lot of Canadians on the ice. He shows promise of getting better, however.
“I am happy — very happy,” Sterner said. “I have a lot to learn — much.”
He searched for words with the same care he used not to be caught out of position during the game. Playing center on a line with Donnie Marshall and Bob Nevin, he came within Bruin goalie Ed Johnston’s ankle of scoring in the last two minutes of the game.
“He played a fine game,” said Ranger coach Red Sullivan, who was careful to reassure the 12 Swedish writers that Sterner would stay with the Rangers. “After this performance, I have no intention of sending him down.”
The Bruins took turns testing Sterner’s ability to bounce off the wooden sideboards. But he kept coming back. Across the sea, it means a month’s suspension to raise a fist at an opponent. The Bruins’ bad man of the night, Reg Fleming, would have been out a year in Sweden the way he bumped Sterner and some other Rangers around.
“I don’t think many tried to hurt me,” Sterner said. “None but Fleming, and he’s playing dirty all the time.”
The Ranger fans treated him warmly. “They were good,” Ulf said, “but I have heard that sometimes they are bad.” He is correct.
Sterner is realistic enough to know that his popularity will last just as long as the Rangers keep winning and he scores goals.

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