Joel Lundqvist
Lundqvist in 2014
Born (1982-03-02) 2 March 1982 (age 41)
Åre, Sweden
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 201 lb (91 kg; 14 st 5 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Frölunda HC
Dallas Stars
National team  Sweden
NHL Draft 68th overall, 2000
Dallas Stars
Playing career 2000–2023

Joel Per Lundqvist (born 2 March 1982) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey centre. He spent the majority of his career with Frölunda HC of Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and also played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Dallas Stars from 2006 to 2009. He holds the record for most appearances in the SHL. His identical twin brother is former NHL goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Early life

Joel and identical twin brother Henrik, a retired 15-year goaltender with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), were born to Eva Johansson and Peter Lundqvist. They grew up in Åre, Jämtland, an area where alpine skiing is the most popular winter activity, but Henrik and Joel chose to play ice hockey over the more popular winter sports. During the winters their kindergarten teachers used the kindergarten's 9 meters × 3 meters (30 ft × 10 ft) sandpit to freeze an outdoor ice rink where the twins would frequently skate. Their interest in hockey grew even larger when their father Peter took the twins to see Frölunda HC play in Scandinavium, Gothenburg. Peter worked for a company who sponsored Frölunda, and Henrik and Joel saw many games in Scandinavium and Frölunda became their favourite team. In 1990 Henrik and Joel joined Järpens IF and started playing organized hockey for the first time. During one practice when the coach asked if anyone wanted to be a goaltender Joel grabbed and raised Henrik's arm and said that his brother would like to.[1]

In 1993 the family moved to Båstad, Skåne, in southern Sweden to support their older sister Gabriella's tennis career. Henrik and Joel joined local team Rögle BK, and were both selected for Scania's regional team in Sverigepucken in 1995. Henrik was selected to play for Scania in TV-pucken in 1996, and in 1997 when Joel was also selected. During the 1997–98 season Henrik and Joel were extensively scouted by Frölunda, and while playing for Rögle in the 1998 Scandinavium Cup in Gothenburg, Frölunda's junior team manager and U16 coach Janne Karlsson contacted their father, who told Henrik and Joel about Frölunda's interest in them while driving home to Båstad.[2]

Playing career

He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (third round, 68th overall) and signed a one-year, entry-level, two-way contract with them in May 2006. He started his 2006 season in Iowa Stars scoring 38 points in 40 games but was called up and played his first game in Dallas on 3 December 2006. Lundqvist played 7 games in his first NHL playoff series, scoring two goals, and was assigned back to Iowa when Dallas was eliminated.

Lundqvist scored his first career NHL goal against Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff on 17 January 2007.

Lundqvist during his tenure with the Stars.

His identical twin brother Henrik had a successful rookie season as goaltender for the New York Rangers in the 2005–06 season. He was afforded the opportunity to play his twin brother on 14 December 2006, in Dallas. It was the first time that a goaltender faced his twin. He and his brother are only the third set of twins to play each other in an NHL game in the history of the league.

In 2009, he returned to his native Sweden, signing with Frölunda HC. In 2011, Lundqvist became the October nominee for Guldpucken.[3] Serving as team captain, he led Frölunda to win the 2016 Swedish national championship as well as the Champions Hockey League (CHL). In 2017, Frölunda repeated as CHL champions with Lundqvist earning Most Valuable Player honors.[4]

Lundqvist retired at the end of the 2022–23 SHL season when Frölunda HC was eliminated in the semi-finals of the SHL playoffs.[5]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 Västra Frölunda HC J18 Allsv 32 26 38 64 37 4 3 1 4 2
1999–2000 Västra Frölunda HC J18 Allsv 4 2 4 6 4 — — — — —
1999–2000 Västra Frölunda HC J20 25 7 12 19 2 6 2 3 5 2
2000–01 Västra Frölunda HC J20 9 4 10 14 12 — — — — —
2000–01 Västra Frölunda HC SEL 9 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2000–01 Mölndal HC Allsv 17 10 5 15 10 9 8 8 16 0
2001–02 Västra Frölunda HC SEL 46 12 14 26 28 10 1 3 4 8
2001–02 Västra Frölunda HC J20 — — — — — 1 0 0 0 0
2002–03 Västra Frölunda HC SEL 50 17 20 37 113 16 6 3 9 12
2003–04 Västra Frölunda HC SEL 49 9 14 23 48 10 2 2 4 8
2004–05 Frölunda HC SEL 50 7 12 19 38 13 2 5 7 57
2005–06 Frölunda HC SEL 49 10 22 32 87 17 3 4 7 34
2006–07 Iowa Stars AHL 40 16 22 38 30 9 6 4 10 10
2006–07 Dallas Stars NHL 36 3 3 6 14 7 2 0 2 6
2007–08 Iowa Stars AHL 8 2 4 6 2 — — — — —
2007–08 Dallas Stars NHL 55 3 11 14 22 18 2 5 7 8
2008–09 Dallas Stars NHL 43 1 5 6 20 — — — — —
2009–10 Frölunda HC SEL 49 11 20 31 34 1 0 0 0 0
2010–11 Frölunda HC SEL 31 9 8 17 16 — — — — —
2011–12 Frölunda HC SEL 48 11 19 30 63 6 0 2 2 4
2012–13 Frölunda HC SEL 55 12 22 34 57 6 3 2 5 6
2013–14 Frölunda HC SHL 46 3 14 17 59 7 1 2 3 4
2014–15 Frölunda HC SHL 55 5 17 22 18 13 3 2 5 4
2015–16 Frölunda HC SHL 45 19 19 38 22 3 1 2 3 0
2016–17 Frölunda HC SHL 51 9 17 26 24 14 2 10 12 6
2017–18 Frölunda HC SHL 43 4 16 20 49 6 1 0 1 2
2018–19 Frölunda HC SHL 51 13 18 31 26 16 6 7 13 35
2019–20 Frölunda HC SHL 46 17 14 31 39 — — — — —
2020–21 Frölunda HC SHL 39 10 13 23 45 4 0 0 0 4
2021–22 Frölunda HC SHL 52 9 16 25 28 9 1 1 2 2
2022–23 Frölunda HC SHL 51 18 29 14 12 1 2 3 27
SHL totals 915 199 312 511 814 174 34 51 85 217
NHL totals 134 7 19 26 56 25 4 5 9 14

International

Medal record
Representing  Sweden
Ice hockey
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Latvia
Gold medal – first place 2013 Sweden/Finland
Gold medal – first place 2017 Germany/France
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Switzerland
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Belarus
IIHF World U18 Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Switzerland
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2000 Sweden WJC18 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 3 1 4 2
2002 Sweden WJC 6th 7 1 1 2 6
2006 Sweden WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 8 1 0 1 4
2009 Sweden WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1 0 0 0 0
2012 Sweden WC 6th 3 1 1 2 2
2013 Sweden WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 0 3 3 6
2014 Sweden WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 10 1 0 1 4
2015 Sweden WC 5th 8 2 1 3 0
2017 Sweden WC 1st place, gold medalist(s) 10 1 1 2 4
2018 Sweden OG 5th 4 0 0 0 6
Junior totals 13 4 2 6 8
Senior totals 54 6 6 12 26

Awards and honors

Award Year
SHL
Rookie of the Year nominee 2002
Le Mat Trophy champion 2003, 2005, 2016, 2019 [6][7]
AHL
All-Star Game 2007
CHL
Champion 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 [8][9]
MVP 2017

See also

References

  1. ^ "Letter to My Younger Self | By Henrik Lundqvist". The Players' Tribune. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Biography". Henrik Lundqvist Promotions. 2008. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
  3. ^ Nyström, Magnus (2 November 2011). "Joel Lundqvist: "Det är väldigt hedrande"". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Joel Lundvqist is NordicBet MVP!". www.championshockeyleague.net. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  5. ^ Käck, Andreas; Rydén, Anna; Karlsson, Mattias; Johansson, Anton (10 April 2023). "Joel Lundqvists karriär är över". www.aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Frolunda Swedish champions for 2015/16". norran.se (in Swedish). 24 April 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  7. ^ "Frölunda are the Swedish Champions". Swedish Hockey League. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ^ Gustav Orbring (7 February 2017). "Frölunda win CHL for second year running" (in Swedish). SVTSport.se. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Frolunda crowned CHL champions". Champions Hockey League. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.

External links

Preceded byNiklas Andersson Frölunda HC captain 2009–2023 Succeeded byTBD
Categories