Lovisa Selander

Lovisa Selander (born 14 March 1996) is a Swedish ice hockey player for the Boston Pride in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Swedish national team. She currently holds the record for women’s hockey NCAA Division I career saves as well as NWHL records for single-season wins and save percentage.[1]

Lovisa Selander
Lovisa Selander playing for the Boston Pride 10-13-2019
Born (1996-03-14) 14 March 1996
Sollentuna, Sweden
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 73 kg (161 lb; 11 st 7 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NWHL team
Former teams		 Boston Pride
Ormsta HC
SDE Hockey
RPI Engineers
National team  Sweden
Playing career 2012–present

Career
Selander at RPI

Selander began playing as a goaltender at the age of six in her native Sweden, admiring Swedish Olympians Henrik Lundqvist and Kim Martin Hasson.[2] When she was 15, she left her local club Sollentuna HC, where she played on the U16 boys' team, to join Ormsta HC in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (now known as SDHL, then known as Riksserien). After one year in Ormsta, she joined SDE Hockey in the second tier of Swedish women's hockey. She would play two games for SDE's men's side in the men's 4th Division during the 2012-13 season, posting a .931 save percentage. In 2014, she led SDE to promotion to Riksserien, and would split time with Lovisa Berndtsson during the 2014–15 Riksserien season.[3]

She then played four seasons for the RPI Engineers between 2015 and 2019, graduating with the second-highest win total in RPI history and the third-highest shutout total.[4] She posted a 2.11 goals against average and .939 save percentage in her rookie NCAA season, setting a university record for single-season saves and being named a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year Award and ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year Award. She served as team captain in her senior year, finishing the year with the third-highest single season total of shots saved in NCAA history. That year, she was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, was awarded the ECAC Goaltender of the Year Award, and became the first RPI player in history to be named to the CCM/AHCA National All-America First Team.[5]

She was drafted 20th overall by the Boston Pride in the 2018 NWHL Draft.[6] After originally being offered a contract by a Canadian Women's Hockey League club before the CWHL's collapse and joining the #ForTheGame movement sparked by the collapse, in August 2019 she signed her first professional contract with the Pride, the second Swede to sign a contract in NWHL history after Michelle Löwenhielm.[7][8] She was named NWHL Goaltender of the Year in her rookie season, setting NWHL records for most wins in a season and highest SV% in a season, as the Pride finished almost undefeated and made it to the Isobel Cup finals before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[9] She played for Team Dempsey at the 2020 NWHL All-Star Game, being named the All-Star Game MVP.[10]

She re-signed with the Pride ahead of the 2020–21 NWHL season.[11]

International career

Selander made her senior international debut for Sweden at the 2018 Four Nations Cup with a 46-save performance against Canada. She then represented Sweden at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship, serving as the country's backup goalie behind Sara Grahn.[12][13][14] After Sweden was relegated at the 2019 World Championship, she took part in the Swedish women's strike of the national team in protest over working conditions and compensation.[15]

Style of play

Selander has been noted for her size in net, as well as her imperturbable poise and her quickness in covering shots, while rarely being flashy.[16] When asked to describe her style of play in 2019, she stated that "I think a huge part of my game is being calm and trusting my positioning. I want to be the goalie my team can trust and lean on when needed. Something I’m trying to work on and improve is playing the puck more."[17]

Personal life

Selander has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[18] Her brother, Jacob Selander, plays professional golf, currently ranked at 1862nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.[19] Her father, Johan Selander, had also played golf professionally, reaching the Swedish Golf Tour level.[20]

Career Statistics
Regular season Playoffs
SeasonTeamLeague GPWLT/OTMINGASOGAASV% GPWLMINGASOGAASV%
2019-20Boston PrideNWHL 23171010503021.71.941 11060101.00.967
NWHL totals 23171010503021.71.941 11060101.00.967

Awards and honors
  • 2015-16 NCAA season: ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team
  • 2017-18 NCAA season: All-ECAC Hockey Second Team
  • 2018-19 NCAA season: Patty Kazmaier Top 10 Finalist
  • 2018-19 NCAA season: All-ECAC Hockey First Team
  • 2018-19 NCAA season: ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year
  • 2018-19 NCAA season: CCM/AHCA National All-America First Team
  • 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 NCAA seasons: ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team
  • 2019-20 NWHL season: League Leader, Goals Against Average (1.71)
  • 2019-20 NWHL season: League Leader, Save Percentage (.941)
  • 2019-20 NWHL season: League Leader, Wins (17)
  • 2019-20 NWHL Goaltender of the Year

References
  1. Clinton, Jared (2019-10-04). "NWHL Preview: Selander's record-setting college career sets a high bar ahead of rookie season". The Hockey News.
  2. Gali, Namish (2019-02-27). "Record-holding goaltender Lovisa Selander talks childhood, goals". The Polytechnic.
  3. Rönnkvist, Ronnie (2014-11-29). "Selander gör sig redo för USA-flytt: "Hockeyn är större där borta"". Hockey Sverige (in Swedish).
  4. Wilkin, Tim (2019-01-15). "Making the save at RPI". The Times Union.
  5. "Top-10 Finalists Named for 2019 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award". USA Hockey Foundation. 2019-02-21.
  6. "RPI Women's Hockey goaltender Lovisa Selander drafted to the NWHL". The Troy Record. 2018.
  7. Umicevic, Dusan (2019-04-01). "Lovisa Selander: "Tråkigt att inte kunna välja och vraka"". SVT Sport (in Swedish).
  8. Murphy, Mike (2019-08-20). "Boston Pride land Swedish goaltender Lovisa Selander". The Ice Garden.
  9. "Boston's Lovisa Selander Wins NWHL Goaltender of the Year Award". NWHL.zone. 2020-03-05.
  10. Leach, Meg (2020-02-10). "Everyone wins at the 2020 NWHL All-Star Weekend". The Ice Garden.
  11. Bryant, Casey (2020-08-17). "2020 Top 25 Under 25 - No. 10: Lovisa Selander". The Ice Garden.
  12. "Damkronornas trupp uttagen till VM". swehockey.se. 19 March 2019.
  13. 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship roster
  14. https://hockeysverige.se/2019/08/28/succemalvakten-gar-sin-egen-vag-ett-steg-narmare-drommen
  15. "Succémålvakten om kampen: "Gjorde helt rätt"". Sydsvenkan (in Swedish). 2019-12-11.
  16. Clinton, Jared (2019-04-03). "Record-setting keeper Selander has sights on becoming fixture in Sweden's crease". The Hockey News.
  17. Foster, Meredith (2019-03-03). "Lovisa Selander is the best goalie you haven't heard of". The Ice Garden.
  18. "2018-19 Women's Ice Hockey Roster - #35 Lovisa Selander". RPI Athletics.
  19. "Jacob Selander - World Number 1862". Official World Golf Ranking.
  20. Rönnkvist, Ronnie (2017-05-27). "Vill till OS – men först lite golf: "Sa att han inte hade glömt bort mig"". Hockey Sverige (in Swedish).
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.