Isak Hansen took part in the penalty-shot shootout against Kazakhstan after not playing during the game itself.
photo: Matt Zambonin / IIHF
It’s something that has happened only once before in Men’s World Championship history. Last week, Norway and Kazakhstan played to a 3-3 tie after 60 minutes of regulation and another 5 minutes of overtime. That, of course, necessitated a penalty-shot shootout, and that’s when Norway coach Tobias Johansson did something kind of weird.
He selected defender Isak Hansen to take one of the five assigned shots, even though Hansen hadn’t played a second of the game. He sat on the bench for all 65 minutes, but then the coach tapped the 19-year-old for the shootout!
“I talked to [Johansson] earlier that day,” Hansen explained a few days later. “He asked me if I’d feel comfortable taking a penalty shot even if I don’t play a lot, and I said yes.”
And so Hansen took the team’s third shot, right after Roman Starchenko had scored for Kazakhstan. Hansen, a right shot, went in on goal, made a little toe drag and stopped quickly, reversed direction, and tried to jam it in. Goalie Andrey Shutov, however, kicked out the left pad. No goal.
“I tried the move in the warmups before the game, and it worked really well, so I thought I’d try it,” Hansen explained. “I like taking penalty shots, and I usually score on them, so I was ready. I was looking forward to it. It’s too bad I didn’t score this time.”
The only other player who took a PSS shot without playing in the game was Czech Petr Koukal, on May 19, 2016, in a game against the United States. He, too, took one shot, and also missed.
At the other end, there have been four instances of a goalie entering a game for the shootout after sitting on the bench. Two of them allowed the winning goal (Jan Lasak in 2009 and Mads Sogaard in 2021), and one goalie allowed a goal on his only shot but didn’t earn a decision (Roman Cechmanek in 1999). Only once has the move resulted in victory. Latvia’s Sergei Naumovs came on against Sweden on April 27, 2009, and allowed two goals on four shots, but he still turned out to be the winning goalie as his teammates put three pucks behind his Swedish counterpart, Stefan Liv.
Hansen is here to learn more than play, but he is willing to play the long game, even if it means not playing much. He played only 1:36 of the team’s second game, didn’t dress for their third game, and hit the ice for only 31 seconds in their fourth game. But in game five, he played a more promising 9:04. Still, he’s trying to be patient and optimistic.
“Of course, I want to compete and get as much ice time as possible,” he admitted, “but I know my role, so I have to keep working hard and hope I’m out more. I’m a big defensive defenceman who’s pretty good at box play, playing good defence.”
Hansen played in Sweden this past season after several years in Norway, to where he will return for 2023-24. He is the son of Mads Hansen, a star player of the previous generation who played in ten Men’s Worlds as well as the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.
“It’s been fun,” Isak said of growing up with a famous, hockey-playing dad. “He’s played in a lot of different places, and after watching him play on TV playing with the national team, it’s pretty cool for me to be standing here now. He’s my idol. He’s the one I’ve been looking up to my entire life. It’s fun to try to follow in his footsteps. He couldn’t make it to Riga this time, but hopefully there will be other chances.”
In the meantime, Hansen will wait patiently for ice time, and perhaps another tap on the shoulder during a shotoout.
He selected defender Isak Hansen to take one of the five assigned shots, even though Hansen hadn’t played a second of the game. He sat on the bench for all 65 minutes, but then the coach tapped the 19-year-old for the shootout!
“I talked to [Johansson] earlier that day,” Hansen explained a few days later. “He asked me if I’d feel comfortable taking a penalty shot even if I don’t play a lot, and I said yes.”
And so Hansen took the team’s third shot, right after Roman Starchenko had scored for Kazakhstan. Hansen, a right shot, went in on goal, made a little toe drag and stopped quickly, reversed direction, and tried to jam it in. Goalie Andrey Shutov, however, kicked out the left pad. No goal.
“I tried the move in the warmups before the game, and it worked really well, so I thought I’d try it,” Hansen explained. “I like taking penalty shots, and I usually score on them, so I was ready. I was looking forward to it. It’s too bad I didn’t score this time.”
The only other player who took a PSS shot without playing in the game was Czech Petr Koukal, on May 19, 2016, in a game against the United States. He, too, took one shot, and also missed.
At the other end, there have been four instances of a goalie entering a game for the shootout after sitting on the bench. Two of them allowed the winning goal (Jan Lasak in 2009 and Mads Sogaard in 2021), and one goalie allowed a goal on his only shot but didn’t earn a decision (Roman Cechmanek in 1999). Only once has the move resulted in victory. Latvia’s Sergei Naumovs came on against Sweden on April 27, 2009, and allowed two goals on four shots, but he still turned out to be the winning goalie as his teammates put three pucks behind his Swedish counterpart, Stefan Liv.
Hansen is here to learn more than play, but he is willing to play the long game, even if it means not playing much. He played only 1:36 of the team’s second game, didn’t dress for their third game, and hit the ice for only 31 seconds in their fourth game. But in game five, he played a more promising 9:04. Still, he’s trying to be patient and optimistic.
“Of course, I want to compete and get as much ice time as possible,” he admitted, “but I know my role, so I have to keep working hard and hope I’m out more. I’m a big defensive defenceman who’s pretty good at box play, playing good defence.”
Hansen played in Sweden this past season after several years in Norway, to where he will return for 2023-24. He is the son of Mads Hansen, a star player of the previous generation who played in ten Men’s Worlds as well as the 2010 and 2014 Olympics.
“It’s been fun,” Isak said of growing up with a famous, hockey-playing dad. “He’s played in a lot of different places, and after watching him play on TV playing with the national team, it’s pretty cool for me to be standing here now. He’s my idol. He’s the one I’ve been looking up to my entire life. It’s fun to try to follow in his footsteps. He couldn’t make it to Riga this time, but hopefully there will be other chances.”
In the meantime, Hansen will wait patiently for ice time, and perhaps another tap on the shoulder during a shotoout.