photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Sofie Lundin is only 24 years old, but she is already appearing in her fourth Women’s World Championship. And that comes after also playing in the 2022 Olympics and appearing in three WW18 tournaments, during which time she and Maja Nylen-Persson became the only Swedes to win two U18 medals, bronze in 2016 and silver in 2018.
But this current season has been both a rewarding and challenging year for Lundin, a year of growing and developing, and a year of realigning as well. After playing seven years for Djurgarden in the Swedish league, she finally moved overseas in 2022 to play under Swedish coach Peter Elander at Ohio State University. The problem was that this season the team was so strong Lundin wasn’t playing as much as she needed to, so she left and returned to the SDHL, signing with Frolunda.
“We recruited her during the 2017-18 season, but at that time Ohio state wasn’t what it is now,” Elander explained. “The program is much deeper now than it was even a few years ago. Then Covid and the Olympic year happened, so Sofie came in 22-23 instead of 19-20, which had been the original plan.”
But a promising first year was complicated in the off season by several moves which strengthened the Buckeyes’ roster for what turned out to be an NCAA championship 2023-24 season.
“Sofie had a plan to stay with us this year,” Elander continued, “but we were super deep on forwards. We picked up some players during the transfer portal, like Hannah Bilka and Kiara Zanon. The simple answer is that Sofie wanted to play more, have more minutes, to get her confidence going, so it was a good decision for her and for Frolunda. I hope she has a good tournament in Utica. But the depth we had was super high. We used four lines, and Sofie was the 13th forward more than she wanted.”
Elander’s tinkering with his roster and aggressive recruiting is a sign of the times in the NCAA, as he readily admits.
“It doesn’t matter where the players come from; they just have to be the best. We try to recruit all over the world. It’s the same for Wisconsin and Minnesota these days. They’re looking all over for the best players.”
“It was a good experience,” Lundin said of her time in Ohio. “I learned a lot last year and the first month this season. We had a really good team, and I loved my teammates and the school, but I decided what was best for me was to go back to Sweden. I liked the players and they liked me, which helped me a lot, and it was nice to have Peter there, another Swede I could talk to sometimes in Swedish.”
Rather than return to Djurgarden, however, Lundin opted to play under general manager Kim Martin-Hasson and head coach Erica Holst in Frolunda, a team that worked its way up from second division last year to the SDHL for 2023-24.
“They’re a new team in the league, and I think they have something good going there,” Lundin continued. “They played in Division I last year but have a good team this year in the top league now. I think it was a good fit for me. It was hard at the start. I didn’t have a lot of confidence when I got there, but the coach supported me and helped make me a better player. I got my confidence back. I feel like I played better and better. I have one more year on my contract there.”
Lundin knows her strengths and weaknesses, and the move back home has given her a confidence boost she hopes she can bring to Utica with the national team.
“I know I have to go out and play my best all the time,” she added. “I have to create offense, and I want to be a player who skates hard. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about now. We have a good team and we’ve had a good season. We have a lot of young players, and we want to win the group. That’s our first goal. And then we’ll see. But, of course, we want to qualify for the top group next year.”
Elander sees Lundin’s move as nothing but positive. “She’s an intelligent, offensive player, really good passer, technically very sound,” he said by way of scouting report. “She’s a good playmaker. She came to Ohio because she wanted to be better, and the thing we helped with was the intensity of her game and the board battles, and she improved a lot in those areas. That was good for her overall game. She is good on the power play, setting people up. She can get 5 to 7 points in the tournament.”
But this current season has been both a rewarding and challenging year for Lundin, a year of growing and developing, and a year of realigning as well. After playing seven years for Djurgarden in the Swedish league, she finally moved overseas in 2022 to play under Swedish coach Peter Elander at Ohio State University. The problem was that this season the team was so strong Lundin wasn’t playing as much as she needed to, so she left and returned to the SDHL, signing with Frolunda.
“We recruited her during the 2017-18 season, but at that time Ohio state wasn’t what it is now,” Elander explained. “The program is much deeper now than it was even a few years ago. Then Covid and the Olympic year happened, so Sofie came in 22-23 instead of 19-20, which had been the original plan.”
But a promising first year was complicated in the off season by several moves which strengthened the Buckeyes’ roster for what turned out to be an NCAA championship 2023-24 season.
“Sofie had a plan to stay with us this year,” Elander continued, “but we were super deep on forwards. We picked up some players during the transfer portal, like Hannah Bilka and Kiara Zanon. The simple answer is that Sofie wanted to play more, have more minutes, to get her confidence going, so it was a good decision for her and for Frolunda. I hope she has a good tournament in Utica. But the depth we had was super high. We used four lines, and Sofie was the 13th forward more than she wanted.”
Elander’s tinkering with his roster and aggressive recruiting is a sign of the times in the NCAA, as he readily admits.
“It doesn’t matter where the players come from; they just have to be the best. We try to recruit all over the world. It’s the same for Wisconsin and Minnesota these days. They’re looking all over for the best players.”
“It was a good experience,” Lundin said of her time in Ohio. “I learned a lot last year and the first month this season. We had a really good team, and I loved my teammates and the school, but I decided what was best for me was to go back to Sweden. I liked the players and they liked me, which helped me a lot, and it was nice to have Peter there, another Swede I could talk to sometimes in Swedish.”
Rather than return to Djurgarden, however, Lundin opted to play under general manager Kim Martin-Hasson and head coach Erica Holst in Frolunda, a team that worked its way up from second division last year to the SDHL for 2023-24.
“They’re a new team in the league, and I think they have something good going there,” Lundin continued. “They played in Division I last year but have a good team this year in the top league now. I think it was a good fit for me. It was hard at the start. I didn’t have a lot of confidence when I got there, but the coach supported me and helped make me a better player. I got my confidence back. I feel like I played better and better. I have one more year on my contract there.”
Lundin knows her strengths and weaknesses, and the move back home has given her a confidence boost she hopes she can bring to Utica with the national team.
“I know I have to go out and play my best all the time,” she added. “I have to create offense, and I want to be a player who skates hard. That’s the only thing I’m thinking about now. We have a good team and we’ve had a good season. We have a lot of young players, and we want to win the group. That’s our first goal. And then we’ll see. But, of course, we want to qualify for the top group next year.”
Elander sees Lundin’s move as nothing but positive. “She’s an intelligent, offensive player, really good passer, technically very sound,” he said by way of scouting report. “She’s a good playmaker. She came to Ohio because she wanted to be better, and the thing we helped with was the intensity of her game and the board battles, and she improved a lot in those areas. That was good for her overall game. She is good on the power play, setting people up. She can get 5 to 7 points in the tournament.”