Swedish Women’s Hockey Team Goes 99-0-1

Def Leppard is blasting through the dressing room speakers. Pad after pad builds tiny players to giants--and giants they are after a 100-game unbeaten streak in the Swedish league.

Annika Persson, 25, shakes her long blond hair before putting on her helmet. “Hockey’s my sport, I more or less grew up on skates, thanks to dad and my big brother,” she says.

Persson plays for Nacka Hockey, Sweden’s winningest team--men or women’s leagues. Last weekend they hit a record 100 league games without a loss, 98 victories, one tie and a decisive 100th win Saturday by a stunning 24-0.

“Well, we did lose a (league) game back in 1982,” Persson says with a smile.

But how do they find motivation after seven years of plain success? If not in breaking records, then on the international scene where competition is much tougher.

Nacka Hockey is--with a few exceptions--the equivalent of the Swedish national hockey team, which has the European Championships coming up in April. Also, the International Ice Hockey Federation has decided to organize an official World Championship next year.

“So far Canada is the only candidate for hosting the championship,” Jan-Ake Edvinsson, general secretary of the International Ice Hockey Federation, said. “We’ll make the decision in Stockholm on April 26-27, during the mens’ World Championships.”

Edvinsson said there would be five European teams plus the United States, Canada and one Asian team--probably Japan--competing. The Europeans would qualify according to their results in the European Championships, he said.

Nacka’s coach, Kurre Svensson, 49, a former Swedish champion who also coaches the men’s national veteran team, took over the club this year. “I was pretty hesitant about girls playing hockey, but these girls are fantastic,” the convert says.

But the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation is harder to persuade.

“We’re warring to be accepted. It’s tough with ladies, see, I had grey hair before, but now it’s even worse,” Svensson says shaking his head with a smile.

Last year, the Swedish women participated in an unofficial competition in the United States and placed fourth, with Canada capturing the gold.