Olympian Emma Sofifie-Nordstrom Shines at SLU

When Team Denmark Olympian and St. Lawrence goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordstrom ’26 skated onto the ice for her first practice at 6 years old, she knew that she was going to be a hockey goalie. Especially when both of her former goalie parents forbid her to do so.

The Denmark native grew up in Herning, surrounded by sticks and pucks. Coming from a massive hockey family, it was inevitable that Nordstrom would follow her parents, uncles, and cousins onto the ice. Her mother, Brigitte, even competed for the Danish national team and competed in five IIFV World Championships. Her father, Peter, was also her club coach during her youth.

“Both my parents were hockey goalies, and they did not want me to be a goalie at all”, said Nordstrom. “They understood the pressure, and the fact that you simply have to be the very best player on the team. They said no, and what did I do at my first hockey practice when we moved? I skated up to the coach and told him that I wanted to play goalie,” said Nordstrom.

Nordstrom’s stubbornness paid off, as she is currently the starting goaltender for the St. Lawrence Saints, played for Team Denmark in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, played in a semi-professional women’s hockey league in Sweden (Linkoping HC), and still finds time to help her brother, Lukas, and sister, Linnea, with their English homework.

“After my first hockey game I remember I was going around saying that I was better than my cousin Freddy [Frederick Anderson], who is the goalie for the Carolina Hurricanes”, said Nordstrom. “When I play games now, I try to believe that.”

When Nordstrom’s father and youth club coach, Peter Nordstrom, reminisces about his daughter’s desire to be a goaltender, it makes him laugh to this very day.

“When she started to play hockey,Brigitte and I agreed that we did not want her in the net”, said Peter. “You can be the fifteenth best player on the team and play in a game, but when it comes to goalies, you need to be the best. It is only one spot. It is a tough position to play.”

At this time, Nordstrom was living in Herning, Denmark, with her retired goalie parents, Peter and Brigitte, and her siblings, Lukas and Linnea. Her hockey career was just taking off at 6 years old, as she was learning a lot about herself as a player. Competing on the boy’s youth team taught her the most.

“In Denmark, there were always gender issues in hockey”, said Peter Nordstrom. “She was playing

on the boys’ team and there were many obstacles for her. ” Ironically, many of these challenges that arose from playing on a boys’ youth team came from none other than Nordstrom’s Olympic and childhood teammate, Sofie Scott.

Scott, who is currently a sophomore defenseman at the University of Vermont, has been playing with Nordstrom since their time together on the U7 team, where there were only 4 girls on an all-boys squad.

“Growing up Emma and I were always on each other and arguing”, laughs Scott. “We were four girls on the boys’ team, and we would all go to the rink together, but we were not super close outside of hockey and we would argue.”

Scott and Nordstrom played on boys’ teams from U7 to U15 together, when they thought they would part ways in the hockey world at 15 years old. Nordstrom got accepted to a hockey gymnasium in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden (NIU hockey gymnasium),while Scott went to play for a boarding school in Copenhagen, Denmark.

After leaving her entire family behind in Denmark, Nordstrom was exposed to a whole new world of hockey, where older girls were more competitive, waiting to be recruited by top schools like Princeton and Yale. She loved it.

“I knew then that I needed to play hockey here in the United States”, said Nordstrom. “Hockey is important to me, obviously, but so is my education and I could not study what I needed to back home. Being a neuroscience and bio-physics double major with a minor in mathematics is not an easy juggle, yet Nordstrom would not want it any other way.

Before being recruited by Saints head coach, Chris Wells and coming to St. Lawrence, Nordstrom would endure a physically demanding schedule at NIU hockey gymnasium, while playing for a professional club team, Modo Hockey.

After waking up at 6 A.M, Nordstrom would head over to the rink for pre-ice practice, where she trained for hours to better her technique. Later, she practiced with the men’s U17 team, and finished her day by practicing with the girls’ team for academy training.

During her 2018-19 season with Modo Hockey, she finished with a save percentage of .894 and goals against average of 3.37 across four games. Nordstrom’s following season improved drastically, as she finished with a save percentage of .934 and a goals-against average of 2.00 across five games.

Her skill while playing for Linkoping HC in 2020-2021 improved even more. Nordstrom’s rookie debut consisted of a .943 save percentage and a 1.56 GAA. For reference, the average NHL hockey player has a GAA of 2.00.

“She just breathes hockey”, said Scott. “She always pushes herself and others to get better as well.”

This clear passion for the sport carried over to the United States, as Nordstrom began to play for the Saints in 2022.

This year, Nordstrom nearly started in every game, averaging a total of 951 saves, a .931 save percentage, and a GAA of 2.03 across 36 games. With Nordstrom in the net, the Saints finished with an impressive record of 28-11-0, at No. 3 in the ECAC.

Although Nordstrom has learned to dominate the net whenever she is on the ice, there is one particularly valuable quality about her that cannot be taught to any high school, collegiate, or even professional player: her lighthearted charm toward her teammates.

“Off the ice she is hilarious” shared Kiley Mastel ’26. “She always has a smile ear to ear. Low shooter is a warmup drill we do in practice. Abby Hustler ’25 has quite the mouth on her, and she gives Emma a piece of it during warmups. Emma is always willing to joke around during that time.”

Not many athletes have the impressive balance of intense focus and playful humor, yet Nordstrom makes it work, even when she was playing in an intense match against the No.1 ECAC women’s hockey team, Colgate.

As Mastel was fighting off a Colgate player, the puck slid over to the other side of the net where Nordstrom could not see it. At this point, it was too late for Mastel to pull the puck out of the net, as Colgate was changing, and she screamed at Nordstrom at the top of her lungs. Seconds went by, and the referee thought that the puck was still loose. To prove that the puck wasn’t, Mastel grabbed Nordstrom’s right arm and put her blocker over the puck for the referee to finally call the whistle.

“A timeout was called, and I was panting freaking out on my hands and knees”, said Mastel. “Emma looked at me and just started cackling. That high emotion and intensity just how she was able to crack a smile and joke with me. She just never fails to put a smile on someone’s face, no matter how high the intensity is or how difficult the situation is.”

Focus, skill, and laughs prove to be Nordstrom’s key to her success, however, the road to being a starting Division 1 goaltender was not an easy process.

Qualifying for the 2022 Beijing Olympics was not either.

“I remember we both got the call that we made the Olympic team, and we went crazy,” said Scott. We were obviously hoping that we would make it, but the whole process felt out of our hands and we both ended up going.”

With Nordstrom and Scott rekindling their playing time together, it was just like old times. Only now, the childish bickering was replaced with newfound respect, encouragement, and admiration for one another.

Although Nordstrom and Scott “didn’t play very much” at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, Nordstrom expressed her hunger when she came to Canton, New York to play for the Saints. When asked about how she stays calm in the net, Nordstrom shared how she locks her focus and forgets about fear.

“I think a lot. Pressure doesn’t exist in the present moment”, said Nordstrom. “I always try to stay present. I always try to focus on ten seconds at a time, that’s always the most important thing for me.”

This technique stayed present for Nordstrom as the Saints finished at No. 7 out of all NCAA Division 1 women’s hockey teams and battled their way to the NCAA tournament. As they prepared to face the No. 15 seed, Pennsylvania State University, Nordstrom shared her calm insights: “We don’t need to be the best always. We just need to be the best in this very moment.”

They were, with the Saints clinching a thrilling 1-0 victory over the Nittany Lions, as Nordstrom had a 36 save shutout.

“As a forward and a defenseman like yeah, you have a big role in this game”, said Mastel. “But as a goalie you have to keep the puck out of the net. It definitely goes further than that. We would not have made it where we are today if it were not for Emma.”

As a sophomore with her first Olympics behind her, Nordstrom has had a long journey of sweat, injuries, and persistence. All this stems from her childhood dreams that she turned into a reality.

“I remember that she would record videos of herself when she was eleven”, said Peter Nordstrom. “When she was angry with herself, she would record videos telling herself to go do pushups instead of being mad. In the video, she would say that she would get strong and win if she channeled anger into pushups and she would watch this video when she was mad.”

Nordstrom will be preparing for the 2024-2025 season by lifting with teammates, practicing on the ice, and putting countless hours into offseason training.

Maybe even some pushups will be involved too.