Hanna Olsson Brings Frölunda To The Front

Hanna Olsson has not only been central to Sweden's national team, she's now helping to build a championship women's team for one of Sweden's history clubs, Frölunda.

Special to The Hockey News - By Therése Nyman

Hanna Olsson has not only been central to Sweden's national team, she's now helping to build a championship women's team for one of Sweden's historic clubs, Frölunda.

Olsson scored four goals in a World Championship game against France. That was close to an all-time record no one has bested since the 1990s. She totaled 11 points during the tournament as a part of Sweden's first line along with 16-year-old Hilda Svensson and Lina Ljungblom that got a lot of ice-time from Swedish head coach Ulf Lundberg.

This past season Hanna Olsson did not play in Sweden's top division, SDHL, instead she chose to play for a new Frölunda team in NDHL, the second division for women’s ice hockey in Sweden. Frölunda's men's team has been in the highest division (SHL) since 1996 but have not shown any interest in having a women’s team until this past season. 

They hired USA-known Erika Holst as head coach, long time national player who spent four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and former top Swedish goalie Kim Martin-Hasson as the team manager. 

Together they started building a team that would include star players such as Michelle Karvinen (Finland), Andrea Dalen (Norway), Stephanie Neatby (Canada), Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout (Canada), and Sweden's Hanna Olsson. Frölunda meant business starting this team with a goal to reach the SDHL after their first season in NDHL.

The first game of the season had 2756 spectators in their home arena Frölundaborg, a new record for the NDHL. They played the first game against one of last year’s favorites, the Malmö Redhawks, but Frölunda were well prepared and ready to take on the SDHL-mission from the start. When the game ended, the score was 10-0 for Frölunda and Hanna Olsson scored three goals and had one assist.

Olsson, born in Hälsö, located in the archipelago just outside of Gothenburg in Sweden, started her career in Skärgårdens SK. Growing up there, Frölunda HC was her favorite team, so when she was asked to join Frölunda's new women's team and help lead the way to SDHL, she didn't turn down the offer. 

When she was announced captain for the team she said to frolundahockey.com, “It's a big honor and I am very grateful for this opportunity. I will be myself and try to see and cheer on everyone."

The 24-year-old missed the entire 2020-2021 season because of a knee injury, but she came back strong and proved that she still has a lot to give.

With eight seasons in SDHL (and former Riksserien) and several international tournaments for the Swedish national team, the challenge to take on the second highest division in Swedish women's hockey wouldn’t be a problem for Hanna Olsson. 

Everyone knew beforehand that Olsson would be too good for the league, but the goal was to take Frölunda to SDHL and she did. As the team captain she led them undefeated through the season, playing 33 of 35 games and scoring 155 points. 

In total, Olsson scored 95 goals and had 60 assists. Finnish star Michelle Karvinen notched 155 points, playing all 35 games for Frölunda.

Most of the leading players from Frölunda's 2022-2023 season will stay with the team next season. They also signed players such as Felizia Wikner-Zienkiewicz (Brynäs, SDHL), Tuva Kandell (Leksand, SDHL) and Lindsay Agnew (Brynäs, SDHL). 

Frölunda's new goal is now to win the Swedish championship in front of a full crowd in Gothenburg, and Hanna Olsson has found her form and will continue to lead them toward their next goal.

For the NDHL teams, the fight for a place in SDHL continues. Teams like Färjestad, Skellefteå, Södertälje and many others are working hard to build teams strong enough to take on the challenge and advance to the highest division. It will be difficult, however to do it the same way Hanna Olsson and Frölunda did this season.