STOCKHOLM – She has been the first Swedish player in the Russian women's league. Defender Frida Nevalainen looks back at a successful season with newly crowned champions Tornado Moscow Region from Dmitrov.

“It’s been a fantastic challenge. I’ve developed both as a player and as a person and ended up being champion of Russia, so I certainly hope more players will take up on the opportunity to come and play in Russian hockey,” Nevalainen says.

With the Russian domestic league season having come to its close, 24-year-old Nevalainen is now back in her native Sweden preparing herself for the upcoming IIHF World Women’s Championship in Switzerland. And she feels that her seven-month tenure in Russian hockey definitely has benefitted her game.

“I have been getting more pressure put on me this season and learnt to take a lot more responsibility out there on the ice. But I have also become more comfortable holding the puck as well as improving my playmaking- and shooting skills,” she says.

When Tornado came calling at the start of this season, it was first and foremost the opportunity to play full-time hockey that clinched the deal for Nevalainen. Apart from a spell at Windsor University in Canada she had played her entire career in Swedish club hockey with Björklöven Umeå and MODO Örnsköldsvik and felt that a new challenge out width the confines of her home country would stand her in good stead.

Touching down on Russian soil for the very first time in September last year, she wasn’t quite sure what exactly lay in store for her in the new environs of the suburban Moscow town of Dmitrov, some 65 kilometres north of the capital.

“But I immediately got a great reception from my new teammates and also very soon found out that you practise very hard in Russia, which suited me very well, “ Nevalainen explains. “In Sweden you play hockey but have a job on the side. In Russia playing for Tornado you are able to focus fully on improving your game and the set-up was very professional with three ice rinks and two gyms available.”

Tornado Moscow Region, with a roster largely made up by a mix of Russian senior and U18 national team players, spiced up with the odd top drawer import such as Jana Kapustova from Slovakia has been one of the heavyweights in the Russian women’s league that recently completed its seventh season.

Out of the six teams competing in the league over the course of this season, fierce rivals and fellow full timers SKIF Nizhni Novgorod as well as Fakel Chelyabinsk proved to be the toughest title challengers for Tornado, in a league where the teams were of varying standards and the style of hockey was different to what Nevalainen had been used to from Sweden.

“The game is more physical in Russia and also more regimented on what you should do out on the ice. There are also more shots and a lot more traffic in front of goal, often because of the lesser teams have lined up a defensive wall to protect their goal,” says Nevalainen.

While Russia’s recent promotion in the World Women’s U18 Championship in Dmitrov is a sign that things are slowly moving in the right direction, women’s hockey is still very much a young sport in Russia.

In order to increase the competiveness of the game and its available candidates for the national team roster ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Russian Federation President Vladislav Tretyak urgently called on increased efforts at the start of this season to form more women’s team across the vast country as the current format of half a dozen competing league teams have deemed to be insufficient, a sentiment that seem to be shared by Tornado, who apart from Russian women’s league fixtures also during the regular season takes part in a local boys under-16 league in order to gain more competitive match experience.

“There are talks about increasing the league with another team or two for next season,” says Nevalainen. “Women’s hockey is being built up from scratch in Russia, and there are people like for instance the GM at Tornado, Olga Votolovskaya, who is working incredibly hard to promote the sport. But at the same time it is also a game that is still very much dominated by men. In Russia I was for instance asked why I am playing a sport for men. What can you reply to that when you love this game and have been playing it since the age of six?”

With the current deal with Tornado Moscow Region having come to its end, Nevalainen’s only focus right now is on the World Women’s Championship that lies ahead and to try and wipe out the disappointments of missing out of the podium with Sweden at the last three major international tournaments, behind archrival Finland.

“The remaining goal is now to finish off the season in the best possible way which is to win a medal with Sweden.”

The 2011 IIHF World Women’s Championships in Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland, starts on April 16. Sweden, led by new head coach Niclas Högberg, plays in Group A together with USA, Russia and Slovakia.

HENRIK MANNINEN

Swedish roster for the 2011 IIHF World Women’s Championship

Goalkeepers: Sara Grahn (Brynäs), Kim Martín (University of Minnesota), Valentina Lizana (MODO).

Defenders: Frida Nevalainen (Tornado Moscow Region), Johanna Fällman (MODO), Johanna Malmström (Brynäs), Linnea Bäckman (AIK Stockholm), Annie Svedin (Ohio State University), Gunilla Andersson (Segeltorp), Emma Nordin (MODO).

Forwards: Elin Holmlöv (University of Minnesota), Jenni Asserholt (Linköping), Erika Holst (Segeltorp), Tina Enström (MODO), Lina Wester (Leksand), Pernilla Winberg (University of Minnesota), Anna Borgqvist (Leksand), Rebecca Stenberg (Munksund-Skuthamn), Emma Eliasson (Brynäs), Erika Grahm (MODO), Danijela Rundqvist (Burlington).