HELSINKI, Finland — Forty years ago, Anders Carlsson was believed to be the first Swede to play college hockey in the United States when he suited up for Yale. Since then, there have been 111 Swedish hockey players in the N.C.A.A., and about 20 percent of them — 23 — are currently enrolled.
It is not just the quantity of Swedish players taking the college route that has increased, but also the quality.
At the world junior championship tournament taking place in Helsinki, Finland, Sweden’s team includes two college players:- Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, a Boston University freshman, and William Lagesson, a freshman at Massachusetts.