Bengt-Åke Gustafsson
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Ice hockey | ||
 |
2006 Turin | Ice hockey |
Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (born March 23 1958 in Karlskoga, Sweden) is a retired Swedish ice hockey player, now head coach of the Swedish national ice hockey team, a post he has held since February 14, 2005.
Was during his American career often called 'Bengt Gustafsson' or 'Gus'.
Playing career
Started his career playing for Bofors IK in the Swedish third tier league and later transferred to Färjestads BK of the Elitserien. Gustafsson was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round of the 1978 NHL Entry Draft. Gustafsson elected to play the 1978-79 season in his homeland Sweden, but he signed with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers in March 1979. Gustafsson made his North American pro debut in the WHA playoffs that spring, picking up a goal and two assists in two games. When the Oilers merged into the NHL, the Capitals reclaimed Gustafsson's rights from Edmonton. After retiring from the NHL he first returned to Färjestads BK and later spent several years playing in Austria.
Coaching career
- Assistant coach of the Swiss national team 1997-2001
- Head coach of VEU Feldkirch in the Austrian league 1998/99
- Head coach of SC Lagnau in the Swiss national league 1999-2001
- Head coach of Färjestads BK in the Elitserien 2001-2005
- Head coach of Tre Kronor, Sweden's national team 2005-
He has been reported as a "player's coach", listening to and arguing with his players rather then telling them what to do. In a SVT interview he stated: "[Ice] hockey is played on the ice, not behind the bench. As coach I can point things out to them and make them aware of stuff but they are the ones who play the game. As a player I have to confess that I didn't listen that much to what the coach said, and as a coach I don't expect them to do either."
He was criticised for asking various players whom they would like to see in the team and how they wanted to play and for asking players how they would like to see the lines formed. He then went in and adjusted the lines as the tournaments went on. The criticism has been somewhat subdued after his 2006 Olympic and IIHF WC double.
It should be noted that the Olympic and IIHF team only shared 8 players. Most of the stars from Olympics was missing. Only Jörgen Jönsson, Kenny Jönsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Mikael Samuelsson, Stefan Liv, Ronnie Sundin and Mika Hannula participated in both tournaments.
Career achievements
- 1977 IIHF - All-Star team World Junior Championship
- 1983 Elitserien - Swedish All-Star Team
- 1987 Elitserien - Swedish All-Star Team
- 1987 IIHF - World Championship Gold medal
- 1990 Elitserien - Guldhjälmen (Most Valuable Player)
- 1991 IIHF - World Championship Gold medal
- 1997 Alpenliga - All-Star Team
- 1998 EHL - Winner with VEU Feldkirch
- 2002 Elitserien - Swedish championship as head coach for Färjestad BK
- 2006 Elitserien - Swedish Coach of the Year [1]
- 2006 Olympics - Gold medal (as head coach)
- 2006 IIHF - World Championship Gold medal (as head coach)
- 2006 First coach in history to win the Olympics and the IIHF World Championship in the same year
Five times Austrian champion and threefold Alpenliga champion with VEU Feldkirch.
Records
- Set a Washington Capitals record (since broken) for points by a rookie with 60 in 1979-80.
- Scored the fastest goal from the start of a period (5 seconds in third period) vs. the Philadelphia Flyers on January 18, 1983.
Notable events
- Scored the game-winning goal for the Washington Capitals in the franchise's first victory over the Montreal Canadiens on February 19, 1980.
- Became the first Washington Capitals player to attempt two penalty shots in the same season in 1980-81.
- Scored 5 goals to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 7-1 on January 8, 1984.
- Played on the Swedish team that reached the Canada Cup final vs Canada in 1984.
- He played his entire nine-year NHL career with the Washington Capitals and notched 555 points (196 goals, 359 assists) in 629 games.
- Inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2003.
- Appointed head coach for the Swedish national men's ice hockey team in 2005
- Became first coach in history to win both Olympic and IIHF World Championshiop the same year during the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2006 Ice Hockey World Championship.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1973-74 | Bofors IK | Swe-3 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1974-75 | Bofors IK | Swe-2 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1975-76 | Bofors IK | Swe-3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| 1976-77 | Bofors IK | Swe-2 | 22 | 32 | 18 | 50 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |||
| 1977-78 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 32 | 15 | 10 | 25 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1978-79 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 33 | 13 | 11 | 24 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1978-79 | Edmonton Oilers | WHA | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 1979-80 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 80 | 22 | 38 | 60 | 17 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1980-81 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 72 | 21 | 34 | 55 | 26 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1981-82 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 70 | 26 | 34 | 60 | 40 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1982-83 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 67 | 22 | 42 | 64 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 1983-84 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 69 | 32 | 43 | 75 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1984-85 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 51 | 14 | 29 | 43 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | ||
| 1985-86 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 70 | 23 | 52 | 75 | 26 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1986-87 | Bofors IK | Swe-2 | 28 | 16 | 26 | 42 | 22 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1987-88 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 78 | 18 | 36 | 54 | 29 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1988-89 | Washington Capitals | NHL | 72 | 18 | 51 | 69 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 1989-90 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 37 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 18 | ||
| 1990-91 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 37 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 2 | ||
| 1991-92 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 35 | 12 | 20 | 32 | 30 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 1992-93 | Färjestads BK | Elitserien | 40 | 17 | 16 | 33 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1993-94 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 54 | 20 | 43 | 63 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1994-95 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 41 | 21 | 42 | 63 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1995-96 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 36 | 20 | 46 | 66 | 14 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1996-97 | Feldkirch VEU | Alpenliga | 41 | 21 | 41 | 62 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1996-97 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 52 | 24 | 54 | 78 | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1997-98 | Feldkirch VEU | EHL | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 1997-98 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 46 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 16 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1998-99 | Feldkirch VEU | Austria | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| Elitserien totals | 214 | 88 | 102 | 190 | 96 | 30 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 18 | ||||
| Austria totals | 272 | 116 | 256 | 372 | 52 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||||
| WHA totals | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| NHL totals | 629 | 196 | 359 | 555 | 196 | 18 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 10 | ||||
International play
Bengt-Åke has played five (1979, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1991) World Championships with Swedish national team. In both 1987 and 1991 he won the Gold medal.
He also played in the Canada Cup in 1984 and 1987.
In 1992 he represented Sweden in the Olympic Games in Albertville. Fourteen years later he was head coach for the Gold medal winning Swedish team in the Olympics in Torino. In the same year, 2006, he also won gold medal in the Ice Hockey World Championship as head coach.
External links
References
- "Bengt-Åke Gustafsson - player profile and career stats". European Hockey.Net. Retrieved May 19.
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