What became of the first Swedish Player in America?
A Look at Monte Afzelius

Afze Montagu "Monte" Afzelius is believed to have been the first Swedish born hockey player in North America. Although fellow countryman Gus Forslund would become the first Swedish born player to play in the NHL, Monte appears t have made quite an impression on North American ice.

He was born somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean on September 18, 1889 to Swedish parents and grew up in Gavle, Sweden, about 150 km north of Stockholm. There he played bandy and soccer for IFK Gavle until 1909, when he moved to Stockholm and played for AIK, Solna from 1910 to 1912.

He left Stockholm with his older brother Arvid Allan Afzelius for North America in february 1912. They arrived at New York in November 1912 – their destination was and old friend – Robert Blom – living in Detroit.

In november 1915 Monte wrote back to his friends in Sweden and told them he lived in Detroit working at the Ford factory.That winter he founded "The Swedish Hockey Club" in Detroit. If this is true - it was the first Swedish hockey team ever, as in Sweden, the first local teams started their activities in 1920/21.

According to the Detroit City Directory of 1916, he was auto worker. However, he is not listed in subsequent directories
between 1918 and 1925. Could he have been in Montreal during this time? This is speculated because some years later, he wrote home and stated that he had "been enrolled by a Canadian hockey team, the Montreal Canadians...that have been playing hockey since 1885". Research of the storied Montreal Canadiens is extensive, and there has never been any mention of anyone named Monte or Afzelius. Was he stretching the truth? Could he have played under an assumed name?
This is believed to have been during the 1916/1917 or 1917/1918 season.

This information was published in 1972 in an interview with an old friend of Monte's, who had received the letter many years earlier. He quite likely did play with some team in Montreal, but no evidence has yet been uncovered.

In 1920, Monte wrote back to his friends in Sweden and told them he had played a lot of hockey during his eight years in the USA and Canada. He planned to go home to Sweden to found a hockey-league like those in Canada and the USA. He did travel home in the summer of 1921, but did not found a hockey league. He returned to New York on August 23, 1921 and then headed to Akron, Iowa, where he lived together with his wife Olga Afzelius and worked as a carpenter.
The 1930 US Census names an Olga E. Afzelius, age 35, living in Iowa but makes no mention of Monte.

A 1931 letter from Monte was published in the famous Swedish sports magazine“Idrottsbladet”. The article referred to a newspaper clip from Detroit, Michigan, dated 1925. It states that Monte had returned to Detroit and was playing ice hockey and had been dubbed "The Canadian Star". Why he earned this title is unclear. Absolutely no stats for Monte have been uncovered in Canada. Was he again misleading his friends and the Swedish press?

In 1934, he was still living in Detroit, but then completely disappears. However, the US Social Security Death Index lists his date of death as January 13, 1962, in Los Angeles.

This is all of the information available on Monte. If you have information about him or his relatives, please contact Carl Giden at carl.giden@comhem.se or contact losthockey via the Contact page.