SDE Explodes for Five Goals In Wild Second Period to Defeat HV71

Mimmi Gill tallies two in victory; Nystrøm makes 28 saves in Brynäs win; Hitosato OT hero for Linköping; Holopainen adds two goals in Frölunda handling of Leksand

There were four games on the SDHL schedule Sunday, January 5. Here's a look at how each played out.

Leksand 0 - Frölunda 6

Frölunda rolled over Leksand effortlessly on Sunday, outshooting them 50-20 en route to a 6-0 win. If not for the valiant effort of Leksand goalie Emma Polusny, the score would have been even more lopsided. Felizia Wikner-Zienkiewicz scored twice in the first period, and league-leading scorer Elisa Holopainen added another to send Frölunda into the first intermission with a comfortable 3-0 lead. Leksand’s defending can only be described as hapless: time and again, the slot was left totally unmanned and Polusny was hung out to dry. Frölunda is doubtlessly a very skilled team, but any squad will score a few goals when handed so many high quality scoring chances. Paula Bergström, Sofie Lundin and Holopainen added three more goals before the final buzzer, and Steph Neatby made 20 saves for the shutout. Newly-acquired import winger Sydney Brodt, who spent last season in the PWHL, registered an assist — the point was her first in two SDHL games this season. Polusny made 44 saves in the loss. The win snapped Frölunda’s three-game losing streak. Both teams are off until Friday.

MoDo 2 - Linköping 3 OT

Linköping continued their strong play of late, defeating the league’s second-ranked team in overtime for their second straight win. LHC got on the board first when Marthe Pabsdorff Brunvold scored her second of the season on a feed from Lova Blom. Speedy Blom has been on a tear of late, registering six points in her last five games. MoDo had a handful of quality chances in the period, but could not beat LHC goalie Ebba Svensson Träff and went into the intermission down 1-0. Halfway through the second period, MoDo equalized when Mira Hallin fired a shot through an excellent screen set by teammate Wilma Sundin to beat Svensson Träff five hole. Just over a minute later, MoDo took the lead when Darcie Lappan converted a beautiful Adela Sapovalivova feed on the power play to make it 2-1. MoDo held their lead until the waning minutes of the third period, when Linköping pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. LHC captain Sara Hjalmarsson won a crucial offensive zone faceoff back to Blom, who passed to Naomi Rogge on the left half boards. Rogge carried low, and put a bad angle shot on net. Keeper Andrea Brändli made the initial save, but the rebound bounced directly to the stick of LHC’s Ann-Fred Guay, who scored to tie the game at 2-2. From the opening faceoff in overtime, fleet-footed LHC defender Ayako Hitosato broke the puck out to Hjalmarsson and then joined the rush up ice. Hitosato won the race to the front of MoDo’s goal and redirected a beautiful return feed from Hjalmarsson past Brändli to win the game. The win was Linköping’s fourth straight on the road. Both teams are back in action on Friday.

Brynäs 2 - Djurgården 1

Brynäs tallied twice on the power play and rode the strong play of goaltender Ena Nystrøm to their first win of 2025. Though the first period was scoreless, it ended with Djurgården’s Ella Planting-Bergloo taking a tripping minor — significant because it allowed Brynäs to open the second period on the power play. Anna Brenkle one-timed a beautiful Maude Poulin-Labelle cross ice feed that was saved by DIF goalie Ida Boman. The rebound bounced to Jenny Antonsson who fired it home to give Brynäs a 1-0 lead. Later in the period, and once again on the advantage, Sanni Vanhanen played give-and-go with Jennina Nylund before scoring past Boman to make it a 2-0 game. Djurgården outshot Brynäs 14-7 in the period but could not solve goaltender Ena Nystrøm, who battled through traffic and corralled rebounds to keep her team ahead. Brynäs has struggled to maintain leads this season and it looked as though they might squander this one in the third period. Indeed, they gave up a breakaway goal to Tereza Plosová and took a pair of minor penalties in the final frame, but they battled until the end to eventually secure the 2-1 win. Nystrøm stopped 28 of 29 shots for the victory and Brynäs went 2 for 3 on the power play. Jenniina Nylund dominated the play at times, and her assist on Vanhanen’s game-winner was her ninth point in 10 games.

SDE 6 - HV71 3

SDE exploded for five goals in five minutes in the second period, overpowering HV on their way to a comfortable 6-3 win. SDE was the better team from the opening faceoff and outshot the visitors 14-5 in the opening frame. Mimmi Gill scored the game’s first goal when she collected her own rebound and fired it home to make the score 1-0 SDE. Later in the period, Teghan Inglis equalised with a shot from the point that beat SDE goalie Lovisa Berndtsson low glove. In the second period, SDE’s offence chased HV71 goalie Lina Van Noort when Kayleigh Hamers, Lotti Odnoga and Liliane Perreault all scored in quick succession. The day’s backup goalie, Viktorie Svejdová, fared no better, and allowed a goal on the very first shot she faced, courtesy of Malia Schneider. HV could not stop the bleeding and surrendered a fifth straight goal just two minutes later, Gill’s second of the night, to make it 6-1. HV would claw two goals back, but SDE’s lead ultimately proved insurmountable as they went on to win 6-3. Berndtsson made 14 saves in the victory. The win was SDE’s fourth in a row.