when an artificially frozen rink was constructed near his home. Loob was an active athlete in his youth, involved in tennis, handball, football, and sailing, and was one of Sweden's best table tennis talents, winning the Tommy Sport Cup in 1971 at age eleven. At age 15 Loob made his senior debut for IK Graip, and quit all other sports to focus on hockey. Playing career Färjestad BK Loob began with third division clubs IK Graip Slite and Roma IF Romakloster in 1975–76 and 1976–77 respectively before spending two seasons with second division club Karlskrona IK. He moved up to the Elitserien when he joined Färjestad BK, with whom he scored 15 goals and 19 points in 36 games in 1979–80. He scored 23 goals the following season as Färjestad won its first Le Mat Trophy as Elitserien champion. In 1982–83, Loob set Elitserien records by scoring 42 goals and 76 points. He continues to hold those records today. Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames selected Loob with a ninth-round pick, 181st overall, at the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. They were not able to convince him to join the club until the 1983–84 NHL season when, after his record setting season in the Elitserien, Flames' General Manager Cliff Fletcher referred to him as the "[Wayne] Gretzky of Sweden". Loob scored 30 goals and 55 points in his first NHL season, and was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team. Loob improved to 37 goals in 1984–85, which was enough to tie him for the team lead with fellow Swede Kent Nilsson. He led the team outright in 1985–86 with 31 goals, and won the Molson Cup as the Flames player with the most three-star selections. Loob struggled the following year due to a shoulder injury that required surgery to fix at the end of the 1986–87 season. He scored only 18 goals while his 44 points was well below the 67 he had scored the previous season. Returning to the lineup healthy for 1987–88, Loob became the first Swedish player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season. As of the end of 2019–20 NHL season, he is still the only Swede to accomplish the feat. He also set a Flames franchise record by scoring five hat tricks during the season. He finished sixth in league goal scoring, while his 106 points was ninth in that category. Loob was named