Anna Kjellbin is all smiles. She is back on the west coast of Sweden where she grew up. It’s good for summer training, but she is not ready to move back yet. If Frölunda had some hope of getting the defender back home, they will have to wait a bit longer.
She started to play hockey with the boys’ team in Mölndal and played there until she was 16 years old. “Up to that age, you feel that you are further along in regard to growth and you can play at their level. However, when you got to play with the U16s and U16 Elite, then the guys start to put on a lot of muscle, and pass you in regard to body weight.” This led to a different development approach: practising with the U16 team in one club, and playing with the women’s team in Hanhals, 28 kilometres south of her home club. Hanhals was playing in the top division at the time, and it led to a good development path.
“At that time, teams didn’t really scout the female players that played with boys/men to the same level,” she explained. But it was a good path forward in order to get into the spotlight of the bigger female teams in Sweden. “It was a good move to play in Riksserien, as it was called back then, to show myself.”
Sweden has had a regional tournament for 15-year-old boys since 1959, and girls have taken part from time to time. In 2006, a tournament for girls was created for players between 14 and 16 years old, and even Finnish and Norwegian teams participated. However, it wasn’t a regional cup; it was by invitation only until 2013. Finally, in 2019, it merged with the boys’ tournament to create two parallel tournaments with playoffs in the same city and with national TV coverage.
Kjellbin believes this has benefited women’s hockey enormously, “Today we have pure girls’ and women’s teams. There is Hockey Gymnasium (high-school hockey) for girls. This means that the talents get picked up earlier and they can get a better chance. It is positive that something has happened in 10 to 15 years.”
Sweden has played with body checks since 2022, something the PWHL also allowed when it started up. “I think the players who have played with boys growing up have a bit of an advantage at the moment. We grew up both giving and receiving hits. We spoke a bit about this in Luleå when we allowed hits in the SDHL. We had players who had never received tackles before as they have grown up in solely girls’ teams. They were uncomfortable at the start. We had a bit of an advantage, but since we implemented hits during practice, I feel that it has evened out a bit. We have had to practice how to hit, on how to receive, but most importantly, ‘why do we want to hit someone?’ More often than not, it is to win the puck.”
Did the Swedish National Team benefit from having allowed hits a year prior to PWHL when it came time for the World Championships, which allowed more physical contact than usual following the PWHL’s inception? Did it allow Sweden to get closer to the big two? Kjellbin pauses to consider her answer. “I think it benefited us in regard to the fact that both USA and Canada are physical teams, and they are big and strong on and off the puck. We knew that hits weren’t allowed internationally, but we didn’t have to hit the off button, and we didn’t get that many penalties called on us. It benefited us because we could stop the play in another way, but still in a fair way. They play a physical game, and while I can only speak for myself, it did feel that they thought we were tougher to play against.”
Kjellbin had to choose her high school to further her sports career, also having to decide between hockey and golf, in which she was a talented player, too. In her own words, she ‘didn’t choose the money’ but ended up in a new city, Linköping, where she stayed for nine seasons. “I like team sports; I like to win together. Therefore, hockey became the natural choice for me. I told mum that I was only going to be gone for three years….”
Kjellbin thought the support from the SHL club was good, starting out from a high level and getting better over time. She does point out that it “took some time for the clubs to realize that they had to invest money in the women’s side. The club wouldn’t be rewarded tomorrow, but over time it would generate new fans, more PR, and also, potentially, championships.” The push Linköping made led to the first two championships the club ever won, as the women claimed titles in 2014 and 2015. Kjellbin has won three more championships with Luleå, the most recent one last season season. However, there is a championship that was ‘lost’ as she played with HV71 in 2020, winning the first game against Luleå before COVID closed down the series. The season is left without a champion, something that still stings for the defender.
“I moved up [north] to Luleå in order to develop the offensive side of my game. I had worked on becoming this stable, secure defender, now it was time to work on the offence. I feel I have taken some steps forward, but I want to get even better. Luleå has had lots of good Swedish and Finnish players, and this has meant that I have grown in all areas on and off the ice. Luleå has invested in the women’s team and it is the best push I have been a part of though all my time in hockey. You feel that the club has your back. You feel that you get as much support from the team as the men get. The fans support both teams, they are the best. It feels professional.”
One aspect of women’s hockey in Sweden is the change in the path the national team has taken. While Kjellbin wasn’t part of the team that was relegated out of the top division, she feels that something happened there. “Everything changed. The staff was replaced and the hockey association started to invest. The new coaching staff with coach Ulf Lundberg has done a great job getting the foundation right. It is one step at a time, and there isn’t a rush. We have benefited from this, and the results are slowly getting better. Still, it is bitter to lose a quarter-final to Germany this year. It could have finished completely different if we won there.
“I felt as though something happened already last year. We played 3-3 against Canada and took them to overtime. We have had a good season in Euro Cup. While the Worlds didn’t finish as we wanted, you can start looking at it from another perspective: it really does feel that we are taking small steps forward all the time. The results should come over time. At least we hope so.”
With more men’s teams having a women’s section as part of the organization, things are being built from the ground up, starting at the high-school level. Kjellbin feels that there has been a generational change within the team, even if she jokes that she, at 30, is still there.
“It is so damn fun to see the young ones coming in because they have a different mindset. They aren’t afraid to lose; they dare to win. Previously it was different, and one can understand that with everything that has happened around the national team that one could end up just not wanting to lose. I think it is dangerous to end up in that mindset in sports. It is so important to see the young talent coming into the room. They aren’t afraid, they wont apologize, they just go out there and play.”
We can’t speak about the Swedish National Team without mentioning the rising star, Lina Ljungblom, who has signed with PWHL Montreal after being drafted in 2023. What does she bring into the team?
“She has a big forehead [Swedish expression: drive / never give up], and a get-go that few other have. This has started to give results now [Ljungblom won the ‘Guldhjälmen‘ as the best player in SDHL (players’ choice), Best Player SDHL (journalists’ choice), and best forward in the SDHL]. It is great to see. She has that never-give-up attitude and leads with that same ‘shame on you if you give up.’ She has a great character. She has the whole package.”
One thing that always comes up for a player making the move to North America is the rink size. Kjellbin does say that the last few World Championships have been on smaller rinks, and it takes a couple of practices before you start to find yourself on the ice. “The important thing is to have made your decision before you get the puck, because when you have the puck you won’t have that time. There will be an adjustment period, but my personal aim is to develop as a hockey player, to get better, and that’s what I should be able to do.” I point out that scanning the ice and getting ready to do something with the puck is part of what many coaches call “hockey IQ.” She gets the last laugh as she points out that, “sure scanning is one thing, getting ready is another, but you hopefully have a bit of IQ as well.”
It’s been an interesting conversation with the Swedish National Team captain, and it is evident that she leads her team with her intelligence, wit, and confidence. She thinks before she answers a question, but she answers it fully, often analyzing things from different perspectives. She isn’t afraid of making a joke and looks to others for improvement. If Kjellbin brings this into the Montreal locker room, things will get even better than a semifinal loss in the PWHL playoffs next year.
