Norway's Surprize Visit to Quebec.

by Meg Hewings September 2, 2010

Most people are surprised to learn that Norway has a national women’s hockey team, explains goaltender Jorid Dagfinrud, who will travel back to the US to join the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux in the Western College Hockey Association. The Norwegian team has enjoyed every moment of the 9-day whirlwind tour in Quebec which began August 27 playing various colleges like Limoilou Titans and Laflèche College Dragons so they could “learn from the Canadians.”

“This is huge for us. We hoped to be here in April, but couldn’t come because of the volcano,” says Dagfinrud. The delay helped motivate the team throughout the summer months. “Women’s hockey is up and coming in Norway, but it’s still a boys’ game. There are young players who are exceptional, which is exciting for us and improves competition. Most girls still play with boys. Also, we just started an elite league with the girls, so now women can come back from college abroad and keep playing, but there’s lots of improvements to make. Of course, we aren’t as good as the US, Canada, Sweden or Finland.”

In the sparsely populated Nordic country, the challenges for women’s hockey are huge. There are only 38 hockey rinks (total!) and 300 registered female players. Despite the obvious trials of accessing ice and convincing Norwegians to take notice of a sport other than skiing or soccer, the national team has a plan to grow the game.

“In the next four years, Team Norway has two big goals,” says head coach Sten Gunnar Jorgensen. “The first is winning the upcoming Division I IIHF World Women’s Championship in Ravensburg, Germany April 11-16, 2011 against rivals Japan, China, Germany, Norway, Austria and Latvia. The second - and admittedly longer-term goal - is to qualify for the first time to compete in the Sochi Olympics.”

"The volcano held up our trip the first round, but nothing’s gonna stop us now!” laughs Jorgensen. So far, Team Norway has surprised the competition (and themselves)… by winning all their games. ““We are a young team, and have never played games together. So this trip is like the opening face-off. We want to learn. The Canadian style suits us and we want to try and learn to play like them.”

Currently, 12 of the team’s players compete in the top senior league in Sweden, the rest play on club teams in Sweden, Finland or Europe. Dagfinrud is the lone player in the US college system, although more are sure to follow in the coming years. “Although it’s a challenge to fly players home from different countries, they learn a lot in other places," says Jørgensen, a former player in the Norwegian men’s pro league who's been involved in womens' hockey for five years.

At the Claude-Mongrain arena in Trois Riviere on August 30th, the fast-passed game between Norway and the Laflèche College Dragons drew a rowdy crowd of 300 eager to see the Scandinavians in action against their local squad. Norway dominated throughout with composed fore checking, cycling and good puck control. Several stellar give-and-goes ended in top-shelf goals by Captain, Line Bialik Oien and Helene Martinsen . Another exciting standout was 17-year old rookie phenom Andrea Schjelderup whose nifty moves and ability to find the back of the net (more than once) helped run up the score for Norway who won 6-2.

Many in the international hockey community agree Norway is well positioned to earn “MIP”status (most improved players) on the world hockey stage prior to Sochi. They have a supportive hockey federation who are busy developing grassroots and elite programs, including a new annual Girls’ Hockey Day [http://www.jentehockeydagen.no/] to introduce young girls to the game. They also have competition and support from their Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden and Finland.

In only two years, the country has enjoyed a 53 per cent increase in registration. Even if it’s has taken a while for girls to play hockey without automatically getting the hairy eyebrow, “Norway is supportive of athletes,” adds Dagfinrud.

Ultimately though, the team needs results, since funding is dependent on winning, adds team manager Tone Smestad. “Normally we have to travel in Scandinavia to play, or to Eastern Europe," says coach Jorgensen. "However, once we showed the Norwegian Hockey Federation that we had a plan and wanted to qualify for the Olympics, they have been positive. The Olympic committee in Norway has helped us set up a program where the girls can be serious and train hard.”

Although players on the team would like to play for Canadian and American universities or in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, few support systems exist for such transfers and players say they aren’t educated about the options.

On August 31st, the tour moved on to Montreal where Jorgensen says the women shopped for hockey equipment. In Norway, there are no hockey manufacturers and the price for gear is prohibitive and sometimes impossible to find. I’m so glad they will finally be able to concentrate on their games, not on their new equipment!” laughs Jorgensen.