photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDREA CARDIN
It was, perhaps, little surprise that Norway’s first Women’s World Championship goal since 1997 was scored by Andrea Dalen.
The 32-year-old hot-shot found the Japanese net after just two minutes of her country’s opening game in Ceske Budejovice, rubber-stamping Norway’s return to the elite after a long exile.
That extends a successful 2025 for the Honefoss native, who recently finished her club season as the leading scorer in the Swedish playoffs, helping Frolunda to the SDHL title. It was a second Swedish championship for Dalen, who previously helped Djurgardens to the crown in 2017. Now she’s hoping the experience can be put to good use as Norway tries to preserve its hard-won place at the top table.
“It’s a lot of fun to come here after winning in Sweden,” she said after that opening game against Japan. “I want to take those good things, share some of that experience from tight games, playoff games.
“It’s especially important coming into a tournament like this, where everything happens so fast and you always have a short turnaround to be ready for the next game.”
Back to her best
Dalen’s success this season also represents a fightback from an illness that threatened to disrupt her career.
“I had Covid, and then post Covid, for a long time,” she said. “Battling through that, you start having thoughts about whether it’s still worth it.”
However, reports in Sweden suggesting that she was close to hanging up her skates were somewhat exaggerated. And coming through a tough time makes championship success and World Championship action even more satisfying.
“It’s great to be back after that,” Dalen added. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot. Now it’s still fun to play, when I’m feeling fresh and everything.
“I feel like I’m more of myself, I’m getting back to myself and where I used to be and where I feel like I should be.”
The Norwegian dream
In Ceske Budejovice, it’s all about team Norway. In the 1990s, the Norwegians were regulars at this level, but following relegation in 1997 the team could not find a way back – until now. A successful promotion campaign last year ended that long wait for top level international hockey and can open the way to a brighter future for women’s hockey in the country.
“It gives a dream to the younger girls coming up, seeing that we can compete against the best teams in the world,” Dalen said. “It means a lot to us as players, but also to the federation to promote hockey as a sport in Norway.”
Yet promotion in Klagenfurt last season was unexpected. The previous year, Norway finished fifth out of six teams in Division IA, saved from relegation by a win over Slovakia. However, in isolation that result was deceptive: 12 months earlier, the Norwegians took bronze in a section that is notoriously hard to call.
“That group has been really close in the last couple of years,” Dalen said. “It’s the small details that determine who goes up and who goes down.
“Last season we finally tightened up a bit and limited the mistakes we made. We scored a lot more goals in the last tournament than we managed in the previous couple of years and when we needed them, the shoot-outs went our way.”
Now it’s a step into the unknown. The opening game against Japan finished in a loss but it’s all about adapting to a higher level. And there is still belief that Norway can survive at this level.
“It’s a long time since we’ve been up here so we didn’t know what to expect,” Dalen said. “We played teams who dropped down to the level below, so we had an idea of where they were, but it’s not the same as playing here and it’s good to get that experience.
“Now we’ll look back at the video, we’ll tighten up on defence, and we’ll go from there.”
The 32-year-old hot-shot found the Japanese net after just two minutes of her country’s opening game in Ceske Budejovice, rubber-stamping Norway’s return to the elite after a long exile.
That extends a successful 2025 for the Honefoss native, who recently finished her club season as the leading scorer in the Swedish playoffs, helping Frolunda to the SDHL title. It was a second Swedish championship for Dalen, who previously helped Djurgardens to the crown in 2017. Now she’s hoping the experience can be put to good use as Norway tries to preserve its hard-won place at the top table.
“It’s a lot of fun to come here after winning in Sweden,” she said after that opening game against Japan. “I want to take those good things, share some of that experience from tight games, playoff games.
“It’s especially important coming into a tournament like this, where everything happens so fast and you always have a short turnaround to be ready for the next game.”
Back to her best
Dalen’s success this season also represents a fightback from an illness that threatened to disrupt her career.
“I had Covid, and then post Covid, for a long time,” she said. “Battling through that, you start having thoughts about whether it’s still worth it.”
However, reports in Sweden suggesting that she was close to hanging up her skates were somewhat exaggerated. And coming through a tough time makes championship success and World Championship action even more satisfying.
“It’s great to be back after that,” Dalen added. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot. Now it’s still fun to play, when I’m feeling fresh and everything.
“I feel like I’m more of myself, I’m getting back to myself and where I used to be and where I feel like I should be.”
The Norwegian dream
In Ceske Budejovice, it’s all about team Norway. In the 1990s, the Norwegians were regulars at this level, but following relegation in 1997 the team could not find a way back – until now. A successful promotion campaign last year ended that long wait for top level international hockey and can open the way to a brighter future for women’s hockey in the country.
“It gives a dream to the younger girls coming up, seeing that we can compete against the best teams in the world,” Dalen said. “It means a lot to us as players, but also to the federation to promote hockey as a sport in Norway.”
Yet promotion in Klagenfurt last season was unexpected. The previous year, Norway finished fifth out of six teams in Division IA, saved from relegation by a win over Slovakia. However, in isolation that result was deceptive: 12 months earlier, the Norwegians took bronze in a section that is notoriously hard to call.
“That group has been really close in the last couple of years,” Dalen said. “It’s the small details that determine who goes up and who goes down.
“Last season we finally tightened up a bit and limited the mistakes we made. We scored a lot more goals in the last tournament than we managed in the previous couple of years and when we needed them, the shoot-outs went our way.”
Now it’s a step into the unknown. The opening game against Japan finished in a loss but it’s all about adapting to a higher level. And there is still belief that Norway can survive at this level.
“It’s a long time since we’ve been up here so we didn’t know what to expect,” Dalen said. “We played teams who dropped down to the level below, so we had an idea of where they were, but it’s not the same as playing here and it’s good to get that experience.
“Now we’ll look back at the video, we’ll tighten up on defence, and we’ll go from there.”