GOTHENBURG. Sweat flies and the weights are picked up in the gym of Frölundaborg Ice Hall as the Frölunda HC women’s team prepares for the pre -game ice training.
Bara Bada Basta, a Finnish Kaj Eurovision Summit, is playing for the second time in a quarter before someone switches to a Swedish -Finnish favorite Markolio.
The walls exude history – many here have made the world, behind the racket in the league. There is Lucas Raymond, Rasmus Dahlin and “the king of New York” Henrik Lunqvist NHL shirts, but in the future you can also find PWHL players on the walls.
Elisa Holopainen Take a look at your training program before putting more weights on the bar. Sanni Rantala Waiting next to its turn.
The two have previously played together in KalPa and Kiekko-Espoo before moving to the Swedish SDHL this season. For both, Frölunda is the first club abroad.
– We had talked many years ago that when we leave, we leave together. It was a good luck that we were asked in the same place, Rantala smiles.
Holopainen, 23, dominated the Finnish series points market for years before his first transfer abroad. That’s why many expected the attacker to move before. However, after 2022 in the Kiekko-Espoo Championship spring spring, Holopainen returned to his home region in Northern Savonia in KalPa ranks.
– Somehow, as a person, I grew up to the idea that it would be nice to try something new and leave the safe area. Of course I had been thinking about it before, but maybe the time was not yet. Last season, I started to think that now could be a good seam. Frölunda felt like an interest.
In three years to the championship battle
Frölunda is now interested in many female hockey players, as the club has risen to the top of Sweden with a rumble. The team only saw the light of day three years ago when the club, who had a success on the men’s side, also decided to invest in their women’s representative team.
In the fall of 2022, the team, which started the second highest level, seemed to be serious in their first season. It acquired a trooper striker Michelle Karvinen In addition, the HV-71 captain of the Gothenburg Archipelago Hanna Olsson. The duo was a tough result in the NDHL: Olsson scored 106 power points in 19 matches, while Karvinen reached 114 points in 20 matches.
At the end of the first season, Frölunda got to the league at the end of the first season.
Behind the fast -paced rising is the former Swedish national goalkeeper Kim Martin Hassonwho started as a sports director for the women’s team in May 2022.
– We have made our operations a good level. We have good leaders who are constantly demanding to move forward and develop players. We design everything well and demand one hundred percent from each other. I believe that success has simply been hard work, Martin Hasson opens.
According to the sports director, players who really want to be in Gothenburg has been acquired and involved in the change. Finns are praised by the club boss.
– They have been fantastically good. We have been really, really happy with them.
The same lines also have a head coach, and for a long time as a player in the Swedish national team Erika Holst.
– Elisa has brought us a lot of speed, made a lot of points and has been an incredibly important player for the team. We are really happy that Sanni wanted to come to the team. He is downright magical with the reel, he moves well and is a great offensive end, Holst glows.
Not just speeches
Martin Hasson praises the club leadership who wanted to invest in girls just like boys.
– They have enabled these resources: that girls and women can really focus on hockey and have the same opportunities as boys and men. Activities are being developed all the time. It’s great to work in a club that cherishes equality.
In Gothenburg, things are not just about the level of speech.
Equal treatment and female players are reflected in many things, both small and big. Men leave the club at noon in the club’s Swedish-Chinese SUV with sponsorship cars, but according to Holopainen and Rantala, a sponsor car is also found in Konkari Karvinen.
– Compared to Finland, my own, the same booth, where you can keep stuff. After each workout, the laundry is washed and can really focus on training. We have two caregivers, with only one in Finland, and it was not their only work, Rantala illustrates.
There is a box in the gym’s unisex toilet with tampons and ties, although on the day of the interview they have ended.
Since the semi -finals, the women’s team has played their match at Scandinavium, known as the men’s home arena, just off the city center. Efforts have been made to build the match so that it resembles as much men as possible. The women’s team has also made their own atmosphere to raise their presentation video, which will be shown on the Media Cube of the Hall before the match.
Even in his first league season, Frölunda advanced to the semi -finals, but Luleå took all three semi -finals. Now the teams meet in the playoffs again – this time in the finals. There, the Finns of the team have played a big role.
A familiar name at the tip
Elisa Holopainen was in the regular season at the top of the spot market Petra Nieminen with. A total of 36 matches were created 24+21 = 45. He leads the playoffs at 5+6.
– When I came here, my goal was just to play well and watch a little level. Already at the beginning I noticed that I could play with my own strengths, score and goals. Of course it fed self -confidence, Holopainen admits.
However, the beginning was challenging – in the first week, the Finnish reinforcements were used to getting used to a harder workout.
– Usually after workout is so tired that you can’t do anything terribly. Leisure time goes to rest, Holopainen admits.
– I was expecting to train harder here, but right after the first few weeks I was quite up, Rantala compasses.
Rantala has also been very responsible, even though the young Finnish defender was initially critical of his grip.
– I thought I had a little more potential to give, but I feel that I was doing just fine. In Finland, I was able to play a lot on the reel, but maybe not so much here. There are many other skilled players in the team who want to be in the reel. I have understood that I don’t play badly even if I am not so much in the reel.
In any case, the move of Holopainen and Rantala’s life to Sweden has revolutionized. Now hockey is their work, where they also make a living. Most of Frölunda’s players are professionals: only some do part-time work alongside gaming.
– In Finland, when players have to pay for gaming, the group goes to work and study, so is the rest of life. As a student, I also wanted to enjoy student matters and last season I was able to attend student events. Now that I do this for my job, there is no question. I only do this, but in the past it was probably more a hobby, Rantala comments.
Investing in hockey alone has also developed.
– I think I’ve gone to a new level and got a little new perspective on things, such as how to work out. I have evolved holistically, Holopainen sees.
The championship would be a great culmination for the first season abroad. The Gothenburg clubs celebrate the championship traditionally with the Götaplatsen in the vicinity of the men’s home arena. The women of Frölunda are also looking at the women of Frölunda in late March.
– I haven’t been to see there yet, but I won’t survive over the spring, Holopainen smiles.
The Gothenburg club played its second SDHL final on Friday night. Frölunda won Luleå 2-1 in Finns (Karvinen and Emilia Vesa) with goals and leads the finals with a win of 2-0.