Arne Grunander (28 January 1918 – 13 February 1987) was a Swedish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

executive. He helped lead Djurgårdens IF Hockey to nine championships and served as president of the

Swedish Ice Hockey Association The Swedish Ice Hockey Association () in Swedish, is an association of Swedish ice hockey clubs. It was established in Stockholm on 17 November 1922 by representatives from seven clubs. Before then, organized ice hockey in Sweden had been admi ...

from 1978 to 1983. He was inducted into the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

posthumously in 1997.

Career

As a youth, Grunander played football alongside Birger Sandberg, where he helped his school win the Crown Prince's trophy in 1937. In 1948, Grunander took over as chairman of Djurgårdens IF Hockey and in his first year with the team helped them qualify for the then-highest league, Allsvenskan. From the 1948 season onwards, Djurgården won nine Swedish championships between 1950 and 1963. As Grunander saw his team dominating the league, he was one of the first instigators that argued for a new elite series of Swedish hockey. Although the proposal was first shot down, by 1974 the Swedish Hockey Association eventually decided to create the

Swedish Elite League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Swedish ice hockey cham ...

. At Djurgården's 75th anniversary, Grunander was awarded a merit award from

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

, the overarching sports club of all departments. Later in his career, Grunander helped recruit players from

IK Göta Idrottsklubben Göta, commonly known as IK Göta, is a sports club in Stockholm, now active in ice hockey, that was successful in several sports such as sport of athletics, athletics, association football, football, handball, field hockey, ice h ...

to play for Djurgården, including Ove Malmberg who described him as a charismatic leader and hockey expert. Grunander also served as a council member of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association from 1968 to 1978 before being elected President in 1978. Although he died on 13 February 1987, Grunander was inducted posthumously into the

as a builder in 1997.

Personal life

Grunander also worked in financial law off the ice and briefly as the IIHF auditor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunander, Arne 1918 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Swedish sportsmen IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Men's association football players not categorized by position People from Stockholm Sportspeople from Stockholm County Swedish ice hockey administrators Swedish men's footballers