Kerstin Pietzsch-Somnell has lived an ordinary life for much of her 50-plus years. Born in Sweden, she still lives there now with her husband and has raised three children: elder daughters Mikaela and Petra, along with youngest child Jens.
Perfectly ordinary, except, at one time in her younger years, she was affectionately known as “Shastine,” the girlfriend and then fiancée of former Flyers star goaltender Pelle Lindbergh.
More than 30 years ago, her life was thrown into chaos, when the 26-year-old Lindbergh — then the reigning Vezina Trophy winner and one of the best goalies in the NHL, who loved life, America, hockey and the lady by his side — crashed his Porsche in South Jersey early one November morning after a night of celebratory drinking. In an agonizing end to a promising career and life, he was taken off life support a day later.
The interminable period between the accident and Lindbergh’s burial in his native south side of Stockholm is one of somber legend in Flyers history, and it had a profound, seismic effect on Pietszch, then a full year older than her beau. Though she remained close with the team during its days and weeks following the tragedy, circling the wagons as a means of support while the NHL schedule rolled on, the hollow feeling remained.
Part of the Flyers’ 50th anniversary celebrations, the club set aside Tuesday, December 8 as “Goalies Night,” a time when fans, media and team personnel feted the myriad assortment of personalities who manned the crease.
Though it was not the first time she returned to Philadelphia (which occurred back in March of 2010 when she brought her son and husband to a home game), it was the first time Somnell would be publicly recognized since her ordeal ended more than three decades earlier. She made the choice to return and stand as the living representative to a player thousands still hold in their hearts all these years later.
Whether it was out of love, out of duty, out of respect for the city and the franchise, Somnell recognized that her presence in Philadelphia was repayment of a debt, and also had much to teach to a new generation of faithful.
“Of course, I’m very honored that he’s still remembered by both the team and the fans,” Somnell said when asked by Flyers PR guru Brian Smith in a radio interview if she was aware that Flyers fans remembered her. “I know that a big part of the crowd wasn’t born when he was playing. The rest of Pelle’s family knows I’m here and is very honored that he’s remembered here.”
The responsibility could be crushing. Pelle’s oldest sister, Ann-Christine, passed away from cancer a few years after the accident. His father, Sigge, demonstrably heartbroken over having to make the decision to end his only son’s life, became embittered by the experience, and died in 2002. Pelle’s mother, Anna, forged a close bond with her would-be daughter-in-law that was not broken until her own passing in 2012.
But with typical Scandinavian practicality, Somnell made the journey once again. The memories came flooding back, for both sides.
(Photo via Flyers Archives)
The support of the Flyers family and the sellout crowd which filled the Wells Fargo Center for what became an instant classic matchup with the Edmonton Oilers, no doubt eased any lingering fears.
After Christmas of 1985, not even the birth of defenseman Brad Marsh’s first child, a son named Erik after Pelle’s given first name of Per-Erik, could raise Somnell’s spirits. Desperately needing relief from the trauma, and with nothing left to keep her in Philadelphia, at the end of the 1985-86 season, she decided to settle on the west coast, landing in Los Angeles with the help of Ed Snider, to be near a friend of hers from back home.
It took two years before her native land beckoned, and she eventually returned to Sweden. Three years later, she settled down with Kurt Somnell, an aerospace engineer, marrying in May of 1990.
“It’s difficult being here, but it would be harder not to be,” she said at the time of that relocation, revealed in Jay Greenberg’s Full Spectrum. “It took me that long to come back to myself. I had healed and decided L.A. wasn’t home.”
Pelle Lindbergh’s place in Flyers history may be secure, but his legacy is still somewhat cloudy. Widely accepted as one of the three greatest players to man the crease here, the sum total of his prime only adds up to two stellar years in parts of five seasons with Philadelphia. He didn’t play long enough to be called a true franchise great, and the manner of his death came about through a series of questionable decisions while under the influence of alcohol.
As a result, Lindbergh’s number has never been worn since November of 1985, and, from all indications, will never be worn again by any Flyer. However, the franchise has yet to enshrine him in its own Hall of Fame and has resisted any calls for a formal jersey retirement, despite Pelle’s unique place in the hearts and minds of fans that lived through those magical times.
Jens Somnell, now 20 years old, has carried on his spiritual godparent’s legacy, tending goal as a youth in some of the rinks Lindbergh skated on in his native Stockholm. Like a good son, he has kept his mother informed on all things Orange and Black.
“Yes, I have,” Somnell stated on whether she still hears how the Flyers are doing. “My youngest son has been playing hockey and has been following the Flyers all these years. He knows the story so I’ve been updated. It’s still my team and my heart.”
She returned to a Philadelphia which has grown so much in the last generation, not so much outward, but upward.
Since her departure, the statue of William Penn that stands above City Hall is no longer the highest point in the city, dwarfed and surrounded by steel and glass. The quiet splendor of South Jersey where most Flyers players lived, has been consumed by suburban sprawl.
The sports complex which she would remember from 1985 that held Veterans Stadium, the Spectrum and John F. Kennedy Stadium has seen a complete overhaul. None of those buildings exist, but within their imprint and adjoining locations, new stadiums have arisen, bigger and better.
“It brings back a lot of memories, although I don’t recognize places anymore,” Somnell admitted to Smith with a hearty laugh. “The Spectrum is not here anymore, but this is a very nice building that you have here.”
Time wounds all heels, but it fortunately heals all wounds. Shastine’s storybook romance took a while to arrive, but it did. Though she was admittedly nervous about going in front of the public, according to Bill Meltzer, a dinner the night before the game with Pelle’s mentor, Bernie Parent, did a lot to ease her fears and brought a lot of smiles to the surface.
She’ll return home having finally closed the book on a brief but painful experience, with a boatload of good feelings and memories to replace them.
“Now I’m back in Sweden…it’s been 25 years or something…working as a PE teacher, married with three children. I live close to Stockholm. I have a good life.”
Leave a Reply