photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDREA CARDIN
The final buzzer that went off in the Espoo arena on April 9, 2019, at 2.53 pm, was also a five-bell alarm for Swedish women’s hockey. Granted, it had already been ten years since the Swedes had played for medals at an IIIHF Women’s World Championship, and they had even faced relegation in 2013, but they had played in the bronze medal game at the 2014 Olympics, and to actually get relegated to Division I? That wasn’t supposed to be possible.
To make matters worse, the world was hit with a global pandemic, which forced the IIHF to cancel both the 2020 and 2021 Division I tournaments, robbing Sweden of the chance to make a quick return to hockey’s elite.
They had to wait until the 2022 IIHF World Championship.
And here we are in 2026, at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and Sweden is in the bronze medal game.
“Swedish women’s hockey, including our national team, has made quite a journey in recent years, and it’s been so much fun to be a part of it,” says Lisa Johansson, one of seven 2026 Olympians who were on the 2019 World Championship team.
“One of the reasons, and it always feels a little tedious to bring it up, is the financial side. It’s become more feasible to keep on playing and live off hockey, and when it becomes your profession, you can train better, make sure you recover better and so on,” she adds.
Another consequence of being able to make money from playing hockey is that players can extend their careers beyond 30. Johansson herself, 34 in April and the oldest player on Team Sweden, is showing no signs of slowing down. In Milan, she’s scored four points in six games, tied for her personal Olympic record from 2018.
“More players can play longer, and they don’t have to quit the game for a career outside hockey,” she adds.
But before you get to the pros, a lot of work must be put in at the grassroots level, which is also something the Swedes did.
“There’s been an increased focus on girls’ hockey in Sweden for a while now, and thanks to the girls’ hockey schools and other initiatives, we now have more players,” Johansson says.
Between 2021 and today, the number of girls playing hockey in Sweden has doubled and recently passed the 10 000 -player milestone. The number of girls-only teams has also doubled to about 400, which lowers the threshold of picking up hockey.
Then, of course, there’s the Swedish women’s league, the SDHL, generally considered the best league in Europe thanks to the fact that 40 percent of the players are import players, helping to raise the quality of play. ‘
In 2020, the league announced a five-year plan to have 25 percent of players earn a living by playing hockey. In 2024, the share was 23 percent. Another big change in recent years is that not all the professional players in the league are import players.
“We put extra focus on improving the conditions for our Swedish players and their salaries have increased, also because the clubs have seen the value in investing more in their Swedish players, SDHL CEO Angelica Lindeberg told Swedish TV a year ago.
“The rise of the SDHL has been very important for us,” says Johansson. “When the league is good, players make it their goal to play there and be a part of it, it’s super important.”
The Swedish strategy was to create a strong domestic league so that the Swedish players who make it there will face strong competition.
For example, Johansson’s SDE in Stockholm has eleven non-Swedes on their roster – but according to current rules, they can dress only ten – all of them at a national team (or PWHL) level in their countries.
All in all, 36 SDHL players made it to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan: 12 for Sweden, ten for Finland, six for Czechia, four for Japan, two for Italy, and one for Germany and Switzerland each.
A more professional league also attracts better players – and better coaches, says Johansson.
“I’ve seen that in the clubs that I’ve been in, both for coaches and the other staff around us,” she says.
The bronze medal game in Milan is not a destination, but it is a nice reward for the players and the coaching staff for all their work.
“We've been on a journey here for almost six years and we always talk about how we've been improving as a group and while we didn’t see the results in the first couple of years, we see them now, and I’m looking forward to Thursday so that I can see what we can accomplish,” team captain Anna Kjellbin says.
The bronze medal game will also be Ulf Lundberg’s last as head coach. Next season, former Team Sweden star Erika Holst – the captain of the 2006 Olympic silver-medal winning team – will take over.
“I’m just happy to have been able to make this journey and look back at it and know we did something great. But of course, it’s also a little emotional. Hopefully, we can win that medal,” Johansson says.
Nothing would say “they’re back” more than winning their first medal in 19 years and their first Olympic medal in twenty years.
To make matters worse, the world was hit with a global pandemic, which forced the IIHF to cancel both the 2020 and 2021 Division I tournaments, robbing Sweden of the chance to make a quick return to hockey’s elite.
They had to wait until the 2022 IIHF World Championship.
And here we are in 2026, at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and Sweden is in the bronze medal game.
“Swedish women’s hockey, including our national team, has made quite a journey in recent years, and it’s been so much fun to be a part of it,” says Lisa Johansson, one of seven 2026 Olympians who were on the 2019 World Championship team.
“One of the reasons, and it always feels a little tedious to bring it up, is the financial side. It’s become more feasible to keep on playing and live off hockey, and when it becomes your profession, you can train better, make sure you recover better and so on,” she adds.
Another consequence of being able to make money from playing hockey is that players can extend their careers beyond 30. Johansson herself, 34 in April and the oldest player on Team Sweden, is showing no signs of slowing down. In Milan, she’s scored four points in six games, tied for her personal Olympic record from 2018.
“More players can play longer, and they don’t have to quit the game for a career outside hockey,” she adds.
But before you get to the pros, a lot of work must be put in at the grassroots level, which is also something the Swedes did.
“There’s been an increased focus on girls’ hockey in Sweden for a while now, and thanks to the girls’ hockey schools and other initiatives, we now have more players,” Johansson says.
Between 2021 and today, the number of girls playing hockey in Sweden has doubled and recently passed the 10 000 -player milestone. The number of girls-only teams has also doubled to about 400, which lowers the threshold of picking up hockey.
Then, of course, there’s the Swedish women’s league, the SDHL, generally considered the best league in Europe thanks to the fact that 40 percent of the players are import players, helping to raise the quality of play. ‘
In 2020, the league announced a five-year plan to have 25 percent of players earn a living by playing hockey. In 2024, the share was 23 percent. Another big change in recent years is that not all the professional players in the league are import players.
“We put extra focus on improving the conditions for our Swedish players and their salaries have increased, also because the clubs have seen the value in investing more in their Swedish players, SDHL CEO Angelica Lindeberg told Swedish TV a year ago.
“The rise of the SDHL has been very important for us,” says Johansson. “When the league is good, players make it their goal to play there and be a part of it, it’s super important.”
The Swedish strategy was to create a strong domestic league so that the Swedish players who make it there will face strong competition.
For example, Johansson’s SDE in Stockholm has eleven non-Swedes on their roster – but according to current rules, they can dress only ten – all of them at a national team (or PWHL) level in their countries.
All in all, 36 SDHL players made it to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan: 12 for Sweden, ten for Finland, six for Czechia, four for Japan, two for Italy, and one for Germany and Switzerland each.
A more professional league also attracts better players – and better coaches, says Johansson.
“I’ve seen that in the clubs that I’ve been in, both for coaches and the other staff around us,” she says.
The bronze medal game in Milan is not a destination, but it is a nice reward for the players and the coaching staff for all their work.
“We've been on a journey here for almost six years and we always talk about how we've been improving as a group and while we didn’t see the results in the first couple of years, we see them now, and I’m looking forward to Thursday so that I can see what we can accomplish,” team captain Anna Kjellbin says.
The bronze medal game will also be Ulf Lundberg’s last as head coach. Next season, former Team Sweden star Erika Holst – the captain of the 2006 Olympic silver-medal winning team – will take over.
“I’m just happy to have been able to make this journey and look back at it and know we did something great. But of course, it’s also a little emotional. Hopefully, we can win that medal,” Johansson says.
Nothing would say “they’re back” more than winning their first medal in 19 years and their first Olympic medal in twenty years.