Erika Grahm

Erika Maria Grahm (born 26 January 1991) is a Swedish ice hockey forward who captains Brynäs IF in the SDHL and plays for the Sweden women's national ice hockey team.[1][2][3] She is the fourth highest scorer in the history of the SDHL, and all-time leading scorer for her former club Modo Hockey, who she captained from 2010 until her departure in 2018.

Erika Grahm
Born (1991-01-26) 26 January 1991
Kramfors, Sweden
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb; 11 st 11 lb)
Position Forward
Shoots Left
SDHL team
Former teams		 Brynäs IF
Modo Hockey
National team  Sweden
Playing career 2006–present

Playing career

Modo Hockey

Having grown up a Modo fan in Kramfors, Grahm joined the organisation in 2005 at the age of 14.[4]

On 8 June 2011, it was announced that Grahm (and Swedish national teammate, Tina Enstrom) would join the University of Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs for the 2011–12 Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs women's ice hockey season.[5] However, she never attended UMD.

In July 2015, she became the first women's hockey player to be added to the database of the hockey statistics website Elite Prospects.[6]

She missed the large parts of the 2015–16 SDHL season, including the entire playoffs, after suffering a series of injuries, including a pinched nerve at beginning of the season and breaking her foot in the latter half.[7] She was still able to put up 22 points in 29 games, as the club finished in 8th.[8]

Off the ice, she held a job within the Modo organisation team office, including starting the MODO Women's Future programme, which organised practices for young girls in the region with Modo's professional women's players. For the 2017–18 SDHL season, she took a year of leave from her job with Modo to focus on playing full-time, an unprecedented step for a women's hockey player.[9]

Brynäs IF

In June 2018, Grahm announced that she was leaving Modo to sign a two-year contract with Brynäs IF which would include an off-ice position as a manager for the women's side and training towards becoming future Sports Manager for the whole organisation. The move came as Brynäs had begun a wide-ranging rebuild after suffering poor results and numerous player complaints in previous seasons.[10] She would be named team captain ahead of the 2018–19 SDHL season.

In March 2020, after putting up 33 points in 33 games in the 2019-20 SDHL season and leading the club to the semi-finals for the first time in seven years, she announced that she had extended her contract with the team by another two years.[11]

International

Grahm took part in the selection camp for the Swedish national team at the 2010 Winter Olympics, but failed to make the team, being the last player cut from the roster. She would make her Olympic debut in 2014, scoring 4 points in 6 games as Sweden finished in 4th, losing the bronze medal game to Switzerland. She would score 5 points in 6 games, including her first Olympic goal, at the 2018 Winter Olympics, as Sweden finished in 7th.

An assistant captain for the Swedish national team and having made over 200 international appearances, Grahm was one of the leaders of the 2019 players' strike over lack of compensation for international games and sub-standard conditions, including the decision by the Swedish Olympic Committee to cut all funding for the women's team and the team's first-ever relegation from the top IIHF division.[12][13][14]

Personal life

In 2011, Grahm suffered a serious health scare, being paralysed by Guillain-Barré syndrome.[15] After going through several months of treatment and rehabilitation, she would return to professional hockey with Modo. In 2014, she released a book about her experience called From paralyzed to an Olympian.[16]

Career statistics

Note: Riksserien changed its name to the SDHL in 2016.

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
2007–08 Modo Hockey Riksserien 133368 41012
2008–09 Modo Hockey Riksserien 2010102030 75160
2009–10 Modo Hockey Riksserien 258152320 51232
2010–11 Modo Hockey Riksserien 282012328 21120
2011–12 Modo Hockey Riksserien 22109198 34260
2012–13 Modo Hockey Riksserien 241592414 341512
2013–14 Modo Hockey Riksserien 2718213946 33250
2014–15 Modo Hockey Riksserien 2813223516 55272
2015–16 Modo Hockey Riksserien 2911112218 -----
2016–17 Modo Hockey SDHL 361921408 20000
2017–18 Modo Hockey SDHL 3623194214 50000
2018–19 Brynäs IF SDHL 3411193020 30112
2019–20 Brynäs IF SDHL 341221334 54594
SDHL totals 358175193368216 4728174524

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Turneringsseger för damkronorna". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  3. "Fem MODO-damer till VM". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  4. "Erika Grahm goes all in". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  5. "BULLDOGS ADD TWO SWEDISH NATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS FOR 2011-12". University of Minnesota Duluth. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  6. "Elite Prospects begins building women's hockey stats database - The Hockey News on Sports Illustrated". si.com. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  7. ""Man blir rörd och det har kommit några tårar"". Hockeysverige. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  8. "Nu är mardrömssäsongen ett minne blott: "Jag har varit med om värre saker"". Hockeysverige. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  9. "Modospelaren Erika Grahm elitsatsar på heltid - P4 Västernorrland". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  10. "Erika Grahm's Next Chapter". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  11. "Profilen stannar i Brynäs: "Otroligt spännande"". Hockeysverige. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  12. "Swedish women hockey players boycott training, tournament over pay | CBC Sports". cbc.ca. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  13. "43 Swedish National Team players to sit out of upcoming training camp, upcoming tournament". The Ice Garden. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  14. "Attacken mot förbundet: "Mot oss spelare visar de inte ett skit"". Hockeysverige. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  15. ""From paralyzed to an Olympian"". hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  16. "</title>". feministisktperspektiv.se. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
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