If you’re a Swedish hockey fan, you’ve definitely heard of Andreas Dackell. But to the broad hockey audience, he’s not the most household name in hockey.
He scored two goals in the Swedish Hockey League finals as a 20-year-old, and that was just the beginning of a great career. Dackell left Sweden and signed for the Ottawa Senators in 1996, and he went on to play 613 games in the NHL.
Dackell scored 91 goals and 250 points during his years in the NHL, but when looking back at eight years in the US, it’s not just what happened on the ice that he remembers. He also has some amazing memories of moments outside the ice, mainly regarding iconic Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour.
”In my first or second year in Montreal, I got the honor of playing with Doug Gilmour,” Dackell said in the Swedish podcast ”Slapp Sargen.”
”It was a lot of drinking back then, and I shared a room with him during a couple of months, and I especially remember one road trip to Vancouver. We practiced on the day, and then they started drinking. But they were always best on the ice, no matter what.”
That night, Andreas Dackell went out for dinner. When he returned to the hotel, there wasn’t a sign of Gilmour.
”When I arrived to my room at 10 o’clock, it was empty. Then about 15 minutes later, Gilmour comes in, and starts talking. Then about three seconds later he fell asleep.”
But what happened next is something Dackell will never forget.
”About a half-hour later, he gets up and goes to the toilet. I hear something happen, and when he comes back out, he’s trying to jump back in bed. But he throws himself in the other direction, straight into a TV stand. There was blood everywhere, and I had to call our doctors.
”I couldn’t say what had happened, but the doctors came and sewed him. I think he received ten stitches.”
Gilmour didn’t tell his teammates what had happened. Instead, he blamed it all on Dackell.
”He’s hilarious. Doug was always the first one to the rink in the morning, and when I got there, everyone asked what I had done. It turns out Doug had told everyone that I hit him.
”It’s something I’ll never forget, and he was the best. A true legend. To share those memories, it’s awesome.”
