enlarge 1981 Press Herald file

Pelle Lindbergh, a native of Sweden who played in the 1980 Olympics, went from the Maine Mariners to the Philadelphia Flyers, and had a bright future cut short by a tragic auto accident.

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While a member of the Maine Mariners, Lindbergh led the team to the Calder Cup finals against Adirondack in 1981.

enlarge 1981 Press Herald file photos

Pelle Lindbergh made an impression during his time with the Maine Mariners – not just with his teammates, but by making friends in the community, friends who will never forget him. Lindbergh died in an automobile accident in New Jersey in November 1985.

PORTLAND — Diane Bore remembers Pelle Lindbergh's fondness for chocolate chip cookies, and the radiant grin the Swedish goalie always wore.

Paul Evans remembers Lindbergh's relaxed demeanor in the Maine Mariners' locker room and his teammate's penchant for performance cars and powerboats.

Kevin Cady remembers Lindbergh's belief in following one's passion. Cady also remembers the exact moment when he learned of the car accident that led to his friend's death – only a few days after he'd spoken on the telephone with Lindbergh, who had encouraged him to come to Philadelphia, where he played for the Flyers.

"For me, it was the most devastating thing I've ever gone through in my life," said Cady, a lieutenant with the Eliot Police Department who also serves as an equipment manager with the Portland Pirates. "I haven't gone through anything like that since."

Twenty-four years ago Thursday, Lindbergh was removed from life support, two days after he crashed his red Porsche into the wall of an elementary school, going more than 80 mph around a sharp curve in Somerdale, N.J.

According to police records, his blood-alcohol content was nearly double the legal limit. Two passengers in the car were severely injured.

Before he played for the Flyers, Lindbergh spent two seasons with the Mariners and helped them reach the American Hockey League's Calder Cup finals in 1981.

His life has been chronicled in the recently published book "Pelle Lindbergh: Behind The White Mask," co-authored by Bill Meltzer and Thomas Tynander. The title is in reference to the white face mask Lindbergh wore while in goal, in homage to former Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent, whom he grew up idolizing in Sweden.

"He had the time of his life in Portland," said Tynander, a newspaper reporter from Sweden. "He was new to the states, and it was everything he had dreamed of because it was America. It was about the smaller rinks, playing a new kind of hockey. And he could smell the NHL, not that far away."

Lindbergh was a 5-foot-9 goalie with lightning-quick reflexes and a singular dream – to play in the NHL. The 76 games he played in Portland were a collective teaching tool, for him to adjust from the European game to the North American game, played on a smaller rink with an emphasis on physical play. He transitioned well; he helped the Mariners to the Calder Cup finals in 1981, where they lost to Adirondack. After the season he was named the AHL's MVP, rookie of the year and top goaltender. Evans was one of Lindbergh's teammates on that Mariners team.

"Pelle came in and we'd heard a bit about him after he'd played in the 1980 Olympics," said Evans, now an assistant men's hockey coach at the University of Southern Maine. "He was pretty highly regarded coming in and once he came to Portland, he played and he carried us right through to the finals.

"He was so laid-back. He wasn't a typical goalie who stressed out the day of a game. After you got to know him a bit and got comfortable with him, he had a great sense of humor. Nothing ever really got to him, but he competed very hard. Losses got to him a bit, but he got over them pretty quick."

Bore and her husband, Tom, were involved with the Maine Mariners and Portland Pirates booster clubs for 19 years, and hosted players at their South Portland home. Lindbergh's visits were frequent. Sometimes he would nap on a couch or sprawl across the floor of her living room, listening to his Walkman, his sports car parked in front of her house. When he left, Bore recalled, Lindbergh departed her home with trays of lasagna or pot roast.

"Pelle was like a young son," said Diane Bore, who now lives with her husband in Florida. "And he was an awesome goalie. I'm a goalie freak and I used to joke with him and the other goalies about it. I told him, 'You have to be 99 cents short of a buck to stand in front of a net and take...