On Saturday, PWHL, the women's equivalent to NHL, begins. The professional league is entering its second season – and for former Modo star Lina Ljungblom, it will be her debut.
The Skövde product has signed a three-year contract with the club and her goal is high – to become the best in the world.
To achieve this, she will take help from her teammate and captain Marie-Philip Poulin. The 33-year-old Canadian forward has won three OS gold medals, four VM gold medals and is considered by many to be the best female hockey player in the world.
Gold scorer x 3
In all three of her OS victories, Poulin has scored the gold goal for Canada.
Being able to see what she does and learn from her is extremely grateful. It's awesome, says Ljungblom.
Despite not having been in Montreal for long, Ljungblom already appreciates her daily life there, not least in terms of hockey.
I really like the environment there. You can see why they're so good at the way they train. I believe and hope it will be good for me, says the powerful forward.
"Feeling safe on the ice"
The transition from SDHL will be significant, and Ljungblom is slowly moving towards her highly set goal.
Of course, you want to contribute as much as you can from the first year. But there's a lot that's new. You're trying to relax to get into everything and feel safe on the ice. Then I want to become a leading player, says Ljungblom, who was named SDHL's best player and Sweden's Player of the Year last season.
Last season, two Swedes played in PWHL, goalkeeper Emma Söderberg in Boston, and veteran defender Johanna Fällman in New York.
Söderberg remains with the team, while Fällman has moved home. Lina Ljungblom and defender Maja Nylén Persson, New York, are new to the league.
National team defenders Anna Kjellbin, Montreal, and Jessica Adolfsson, Ottawa, have had trial contracts with their clubs during the preseason. The teams' rosters will be finalized late on Wednesday evening, Swedish time.
+ Six teams play in PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League): Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres. Minnesota became champions last season.
+ The premiere season was described as a success, and several attendance records were broken. The current record of 21,105 spectators between Montreal and Toronto at Bell Centre is also a world record for a women's hockey game.
+ There are plans to expand PWHL with two teams to eight and to investigate interest by playing a number of matches on neutral ground in interesting cities, including Detroit, Buffalo, Denver, Vancouver, and Quebec, in something called the "PWHL Takeover Tour".
+ Player salaries in the league are around 400,000 kronor per season, with an average salary of around 600,000 and top salaries of around 850,000 kronor.
