photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Tim Austen
Emma-Sofie Nordstrom sits down on the locker room bench and starts to think.
“Let’s see,” she says and starts to rattle off names.
“Mom and Dad, of course, and my uncle Ernst, that’s my mother’s brother. Also, my cousin Frederik, his brother Valdemar, and my Swedish cousin Melker Thelin,” she says with a smile.
Those are the goaltenders in Nordstrom’s family, which also includes her cousin Amalie Andersen, a former Team Denmark defender, another uncle who was a forward, and three more skater cousins.
“Everyone in my family plays hockey. I’m serious,” she says.
To say that Emma-Sofie Nordstrom was born to be a goalie may not even be an overstatement. She says she played her first game before even being born.
“Mom [Birgitte Mohrsen Nordström] had a game, and she knew she was pregnant, but she was told it was fine for her to play. After the game, which they won, she told her teammates that they got away with a too many players on the ice penalty.
“And then she revealed to the team that there had been two people in the net. That’s how she told her teammates she was pregnant.”
Nordstrom says she was skating as soon as she was standing up, but for some reason, her goalie parents didn’t want her to become one.
“They knew what it takes, and how hard it can be mentally. Also, there’s only one goalie on the ice at a time, but a skater gets to play in every game,” she says and adds:
“But I wanted to be a goalie, so I asked our coach instead and got to play my first game somewhere up in northern Sweden,” says Nordstrom, whose father, Peter, is Swedish. The family lived in Sweden for a short period.
After the game, she told her parents that she thought she was better than her cousin Frederik.
“And I knew he was great,” Emma-Sofie says.
Of course, her cousin Frederik [Andersen] won the Stanley Cup last season with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Frederik hasn’t been the only great role model Emma-Sofie has had close by, even if you count out her own parents.
“They’ve all been role models to me, in different ways. My cousin Amalie is three years older than me, and I’ve been following in her footsteps my whole life. We played together on the under-18 national team and the women’s team,” Nordstrom says.
“When she went to Sweden to play, I wanted to go to Sweden. When she left for college, I wanted to go to a US college. But if I could play like another goalie in the world, I’d be my cousin Melker Thelin. He’s quick, so poised, his technique is super,” she adds.
Almost needless to say that Uncle Ernst — Frederik’s and Valdemar’s dad — has also been the Danish women’s national team goalie coach.
On Saturday night, after Denmark had beaten Japan for the first time in the Women’s World Championship, the Andersen-Holmstrom group chat went hot. Some, those who live in the area, were in the stands, of course.
It wasn’t just that they beat Japan; it was the way they rallied back from 0–2 to win it in a shootout.
“Our goal is to be the toughest team to meet here. We’ll give everything we’ve got, that’s who we are. You can always try your hardest, regardless of your skills or whatever,” she says.
“That’s been our motto, we talk about it a lot. Always ‘five more.’ Whatever it is. Five more strides, five more seconds, you can always do just five more. The past is the past, and the future depends on our decision in the here and now. I think thinking five more is a good way to stay in the moment.”
In June, she made Danish and women’s hockey history when she became the first Danish player to get drafted into the PWHL when the new Hamilton team picked her in the fifth round.
She’s now a role model to a generation of Danish girls, a fact she’s aware of.
“I think it’s great that we have a Danish player in the PWHL, that girls see that it’s possible, and it just happened to be me,” says Nordstrom, who’s faced 91 shots in two games. Most of them have hit her Lego-themed pads.
“Lego is Danish, right, and the name comes from the Danish leg godt, which translated into English means ‘play well.’ I thought it was fitting,” she says with a smile.
The day after the Worlds gold medal game, Nordstrom will fly over to Canada to prepare for the PWHL season.
But that’s then. First, five more.
“Let’s see,” she says and starts to rattle off names.
“Mom and Dad, of course, and my uncle Ernst, that’s my mother’s brother. Also, my cousin Frederik, his brother Valdemar, and my Swedish cousin Melker Thelin,” she says with a smile.
Those are the goaltenders in Nordstrom’s family, which also includes her cousin Amalie Andersen, a former Team Denmark defender, another uncle who was a forward, and three more skater cousins.
“Everyone in my family plays hockey. I’m serious,” she says.
To say that Emma-Sofie Nordstrom was born to be a goalie may not even be an overstatement. She says she played her first game before even being born.
“Mom [Birgitte Mohrsen Nordström] had a game, and she knew she was pregnant, but she was told it was fine for her to play. After the game, which they won, she told her teammates that they got away with a too many players on the ice penalty.
“And then she revealed to the team that there had been two people in the net. That’s how she told her teammates she was pregnant.”
Nordstrom says she was skating as soon as she was standing up, but for some reason, her goalie parents didn’t want her to become one.
“They knew what it takes, and how hard it can be mentally. Also, there’s only one goalie on the ice at a time, but a skater gets to play in every game,” she says and adds:
“But I wanted to be a goalie, so I asked our coach instead and got to play my first game somewhere up in northern Sweden,” says Nordstrom, whose father, Peter, is Swedish. The family lived in Sweden for a short period.
After the game, she told her parents that she thought she was better than her cousin Frederik.
“And I knew he was great,” Emma-Sofie says.
Of course, her cousin Frederik [Andersen] won the Stanley Cup last season with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Frederik hasn’t been the only great role model Emma-Sofie has had close by, even if you count out her own parents.
“They’ve all been role models to me, in different ways. My cousin Amalie is three years older than me, and I’ve been following in her footsteps my whole life. We played together on the under-18 national team and the women’s team,” Nordstrom says.
“When she went to Sweden to play, I wanted to go to Sweden. When she left for college, I wanted to go to a US college. But if I could play like another goalie in the world, I’d be my cousin Melker Thelin. He’s quick, so poised, his technique is super,” she adds.
Almost needless to say that Uncle Ernst — Frederik’s and Valdemar’s dad — has also been the Danish women’s national team goalie coach.
On Saturday night, after Denmark had beaten Japan for the first time in the Women’s World Championship, the Andersen-Holmstrom group chat went hot. Some, those who live in the area, were in the stands, of course.
It wasn’t just that they beat Japan; it was the way they rallied back from 0–2 to win it in a shootout.
“Our goal is to be the toughest team to meet here. We’ll give everything we’ve got, that’s who we are. You can always try your hardest, regardless of your skills or whatever,” she says.
“That’s been our motto, we talk about it a lot. Always ‘five more.’ Whatever it is. Five more strides, five more seconds, you can always do just five more. The past is the past, and the future depends on our decision in the here and now. I think thinking five more is a good way to stay in the moment.”
In June, she made Danish and women’s hockey history when she became the first Danish player to get drafted into the PWHL when the new Hamilton team picked her in the fifth round.
She’s now a role model to a generation of Danish girls, a fact she’s aware of.
“I think it’s great that we have a Danish player in the PWHL, that girls see that it’s possible, and it just happened to be me,” says Nordstrom, who’s faced 91 shots in two games. Most of them have hit her Lego-themed pads.
“Lego is Danish, right, and the name comes from the Danish leg godt, which translated into English means ‘play well.’ I thought it was fitting,” she says with a smile.
The day after the Worlds gold medal game, Nordstrom will fly over to Canada to prepare for the PWHL season.
But that’s then. First, five more.