The goalscoring and scoring forward – who next season will step down a division to be an anchor in Frölunda’s women’s team – is one of eight players who remain from the national team that left the A-WC 2019 in Finland.
Otherwise, there is much that is new in the team that faces home nation Denmark in the WC comeback on Thursday evening.
Many were surprised when national team captain Ulf Lundberg chose to poke profiles and veterans such as goalkeeper Sara Grahn, defender Johanna Fällman and forward Emma Nordin before the WC.
Hanna Olsson admits that she too became one.
— Yes, they have been with us for a long time and they are good people and players. But it’s up to the management staff, she says.
Get rid of the knee injury
So the pressure is now increasing on the younger ones – for example Hanna Olsson.
— I grow with the responsibility. Then I have a history of operations in the last two years, so I am humble about my shape and situation, she says.
The former HV71 player tore her cruciate ligament two years ago, missed an entire season and was also not fully recovered last season despite being the fifth best Swedish scorer in the SDHL with 32 points (11 goals+21 assists).
— I had to do a minor operation in March and clean up suites from the first operation. So I’ve been doing rehab over the summer. Now it should be a hundred, it’s great. It has been a long journey with a lot of hard work, she says.
“Here We Want To Be”
Hanna Olsson is enjoying playing her fifth A-WC. She made her debut in Malmö in 2015.
“This is where we want to be and Sweden is supposed to be a top nation, but in recent years we have fallen behind and teams have overtaken us in the world rankings,” says Olsson, whose national team is only eighth in the rankings and aims to reach the quarter-finals.
After the high-profile player strike in the fall of 2019, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association has finally invested in the Women’s Crowns, but Hanna Olsson believes that the players themselves also have a big responsibility in taking Sweden back to the top of the world.
— Above all in the daily work at home. There is a great responsibility on us as players as well, it is not possible to just talk about conditions, she says.
Hanna Olsson has had to wait longer than many of her teammates to meet the best. She missed the Olympics in Beijing in February when she tested positive for covid-19.
— Very sad, of course. I’m grateful that I didn’t get sick, I got a positive test and with that you were smoked. Too bad it couldn’t be resolved, I was healthy and ready long before the premiere actually, says Olsson.
The forward, from Hälsö in the Gothenburg archipelago, is back home on the west coast again after excursions in Linköping, Djurgården and HV71.
She is the big poster name in Frölunda’s women’s effort, which starts in the women’s team, but where the idea is to play in the SDHL next season.
She is fully paid by Frölunda, 75 percent as a hockey player, 25 percent in the office.
— It’s very inspiring, it becomes something completely different when you have a full-time job. I will be a bit of an ambassador for the girls’ initiative and also work to increase audience numbers. I try to help and learn a lot.
Now she will lead Sweden in the WC comeback.