Frolunda Ready To Challenge Status Quo In Sweden

Guided by hockey legend Kim Martin Hasson, Frolunda is looking to take the SDHL by storm, and challenge Lulea's hold on top spot.

When Frolunda announced in early 2022 that they would start up a women’s team, the director of the Gothenburg team’s youth academy noted that while the goal was to earn a promotion to the SDHL, there was no rush, however long it would take.

The important thing was to establish a women’s team so that the promising girls on the youth teams, and applying to the newly established hockey high school for girls, would have something to aim for.

They also announced that Kim Martin Hasson, the former Team Sweden goalie, and the GM of Linköping’s SDHL team, would be the GM of the new team.

Fast forward roughly 500 days, and Frolunda is getting ready for their SDHL opener against SDE, having abolished all opposition in the Division 1 in 2022-23. Their goal difference in the 21 regular season games was 244-7 as they cruised, naturally, to a 21-0 record. In the next stage, they went 6-0 (and 31-7 in goals), earning a berth in the playoffs to the SDHL qualification.

In the first round, they swept Troja in two games, with a 19-0 goal differential. In the second round, they took care of Bjorkloven beating them 7-0, twice.

And in the round-robin SDHL qualification round, having already secured a spot in the SDHL for this season, they suffered their only point loss, when they beat Stockholm AIK in OT.

Some of the players’ points totals are mind-boggling. Hanna Ohlsson scored 155 points in 33 games, Michelle Karvinen the same in 34 games. Of those 84, were goals.

“Last season was special. We had a great team, but everything was also new. The key for us was to stay motivated and follow our plan,” Martin Hasson told THN.

No wonder that expectations are high for the Gothenburg team, newcomers as they may be. The Frolunda name carries a lot of weight in Sweden, too, and the team is also expected to threaten Lulea at the top of the attendance standings. Frolunda will play their games in the Frolundaborg arena, the men’s team’s practice rink, that seats 6000.

“I’m looking forward to a new season, and it’s going to be exciting for us to take on the other teams as newcomers. We have several established players on the team, mixed with young talent, and we’re itching to face new challenges,” Martin Hasson said.

“Everyone wants to measure themselves against the best, and we, too, want to play tough and meaningful games all season long,” she adds.

When Martin Hasson built the team for last season, it was obvious she had her eye on a quick promotion to the top league. Not only did she manage to get Karvinen and Olsson to spend a year in Division 1, but she also hired Erika Holst as the head coach, Holst, a true legend in

Swedish women’s hockey, had been away from the game for a few years, after spending half a decade running the women’s developmental program at the Swedish federation.

And thanks to Martin Hasson’s foresight, Frolunda can build their SDHL team around the same core group of players.

“We have seven new players, and three of those are younger players who have started at the hockey high school, but all three are also on the junior national team program,” she says.

As is the organization’s policy, most of the players are not only Swedes, they also come up through Frolunda’s own system, and many of them from the Gothenburg region.

“We want about half the team to come through the academy and be ready to take the step up to the women’s team,” she says.

Thanks to their phenomenal season in Division 1, most of the experts expect to see Frolunda in the Top 4 in the SDHL standings.

That’s what the GM expects, too.

“Our goal is to be in the Top 4 and take it from there. Anything is possible in the playoffs."