Aleksandra Olsen Junior Review [2/2]

[GlowyGoat 80]

Aleksandra Katrin Olsen

Age 18

5’10, 155 lbs

Vestmanna, Vestmanna, Faroe Islands

 

Sandra Olsen’s hockey career began not in her home country, which sports no youth hockey leagues, but in the country of Denmark. Ice rinks were in short supply before her family moved to Denmark permanently, so she made do with street hockey in what passed for the streets of Vestmanna, a town of only 1,200, where she quickly became the best of the players. Beyond hockey, she dabbled in the sport of handball, extremely popular in her country, though her true passion would always lie on the ice.

While she found little opportunity to skate on a rink during her time on the Faroe Islands, she always made it a point to skate on any frozen body of water she could find, to improve her skating as best as she could in a country with no ice rinks. Despite the lack of ice hockey opportunities, Sandra made it a point to practice every other skill of hockey by any means necessary, playing both street hockey and field hockey at varying points of the year, and devoting the families basement to puckhandling drills.

 

On Sandra’s 11^th birthday, the family moved to Denmark, and her ice hockey career truly began. While she wouldn’t stay in the Danish system for long, women’s hockey in Denmark is unpopular to the point of providing few options for young players, Sandra quickly grew to be one of the best young players the league had ever seen, before eventually leaving for the SDHL in Sweden shortly after turning 14.

 

In Sweden, Sandra first played with Hässelby Kälvesta HC, finding her feet in a lower Swedish league that quickly proved insufficient to her skills, though she would remain with them for the following two years. Most recently, from age 16 to now, Sandra has played for the Women’s division of the renowned Swedish club Djurgårdens IF where she has continued to develop her game. Initially relegated to a third pairing powerplay specialist due to her passing skills, Sandra’s endless desire to improve has only led to her gaining more ice time over the past two seasons, as she’s forced herself into being one of the key players on the team. While in Sweden she was scouted by several CWHL teams before that league ceased to exist, as well as NWHL and RWHL teams, but has decided to try her luck in a the mixed-gender league of the VHL, to prove that she’s just as good as any of the men playing there.

Edited October 20, 2019 by GlowyGoat

[aleks 40]

Ferro islands

[Ricer13 2,796]

Review: A lot of these articles are making it very easy to review. It seems like you’ve done your homework on this area of the world. Very interesting to see someone from an area with little to no hockey culture, love the game enough to make something out of themselves. 

[Kekzkrieg 160]

Review: Sandra sounds like a workhorse that can skate circles around her opponents with ease! Great job describing her upbringing and the difficulties in pursuing a sport that's unpopular in her local area,especially for women, and her journey in following her dream of being a professional hockey player. I have no doubt that Sandra will crush it in the VHLM, you go girl!