Ronald Pettersson

Erik Ronald "Sura-Pelle" Pettersson (April 16, 1935 – March 6, 2010) was a Swedish ice hockey player. He played 252 international games for Sweden between 1955 and 1967, including thirteen World Championships and three Olympic Games. Between 1951 and 1967 Pettersson played for Surahammars IF, Södertälje SK, and Västra Frölunda IF. He won the Swedish championship twice, in 1956 with Södertälje and in 1965 with Västra Frölunda. He won Guldpucken in 1959–60 as the most valuable player in Swedish Championship playoffs.

After suffering a career ending injury in 1967 Pettersson took on the role as head coach for the Swedish national junior team from 1968 to 1974, the Swedish national men's team from 1974 to 1976, and the Norwegian national men's team from 1978 to 1981. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2004, and his jersey #14 was retired by Västra Frölunda in 2002.

Early life
Pettersson was born on April 16, 1935, in Surahammar, a rural industrial town where the name Ronald was unusual, thus the locals nicknamed him Collman, after the famous actor Ronald Colman. Pettersson was a natural athletic talent, in his youth he played tennis and table tennis with good results, he started playing bandy as a goalkeeper since his skating was of poor quality. As he developed his skating ability he moved to the outfield. His first ice hockey game with the senior team was an exhibition game against Avesta BK during the autumn of 1952. He was unsuccessful, the first time he received the puck he fell to the ice as he was trying to turn.

Playing career
During the 1952–53 season Pettersson debuted at age 17 for his hometown team Surahammars IF in Division 1, then the highest level of ice hockey in Sweden. He played five games, scoring no goals. The following season Pettersson played ten games, scoring nine goals, only one goal shy of his team's scoring leader Arne Holmgren. Surahammar were relegated to Division 2 for the 1954–55 season, where Pettersson set a new club record when scoring 23 goals in seven games. In 1955 he signed with Södertälje SK because he was going to do conscript service in the Swedish Navy, stationed in Stockholm's archipelago. He was in fact supposed to sign with Djurgårdens IF but Södertälje were faster with transfer papers. In 1956 he won the Swedish Championship with Södertälje, scoring one goal in the decisive game against Djurgården which Södertälje won 3–1.

International play
Pettersson played for Sweden in all thirteen international championships between 1955 and 1967, totaling 252 games for Tre Kronor. Pettersson, a right winger, together with centre Nisse Nilsson and left winger Lars Erik Lundvall, formed the legendary ungdomskedjan (youth line), one of the most successful and considered as Tre Kronor's best line ever.

He made his debut for Juniorkronorna in February 1954, and for Tre Kronor when they played two games against Norway in Stockholm on November 26 and 27, 1954. He was selected to Tre Kronor's roster for the 1955 World Championship, he scored his first tournament goal, assisted by Sven Tumba, in a 9–0 win against Poland in the last game of the championship.

Playing style
Pettersson was an incredibly hard working right winger, who played an efficient game and made every minute on the ice count. He was a fast skater, and had a well developed goal scoring ability. He was considered a team player, not a crowd pleaser or a man for newspaper headlines, despite his natural athletic talent. Like a chess player he always thought one step ahead, knewing what do to when he received the puck, he was sly, cunning, coldblooded and could always do unexpected moves. His passing game was of high quality and precision, he was a good shooter but rarely used powerful shots, instead he preferred well placed precision shots which had a remarkable ability to find the net.

Legacy
With his 252 games Pettersson is ranked fourth all-time in games played for Tre Kronor. His feat was long considered an unbreakable record, but he was surpassed by Thomas Rundqvist in 1993 and later by Jonas Bergqvist and Jörgen Jönsson.

He was inducted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 2004.

He became the fiftieth ice hockey player to receive Stora Grabbars Märke.

His jersey #14 is retired by Frölunda. In 2003 he was inducted as an honour member in Surahammars IF.