Boston Pride land Swedish goaltender Lovisa Selander

One of the biggest questions for the Boston Pride this offseason was how the team was going to replace the outstanding goaltending duo of Katie Burt and Brittany Ott. Today, we got our answer.

The Pride have signed 5-foot-11 Swedish goaltending phenom Lovisa Selander, who finished her collegiate career as the NCAA’s all-time leader in saves. Selander is arguably the biggest “new face” to sign with an NWHL team this offseason. She was also initially part of the #ForTheGame movement that sparked the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association.

Impossible to overstate this signing. Selander was an absolute BEAST in the NCAA, played her way to #Damkronorna attention, and becomes the second Swede in NWHL history. Huge get for Boston. https://t.co/1k0pO2wLi5

— Meredith Foster (@fosterwrites) August 20, 2019

Selander, 23, started in all 34 of RPI’s games last season and finished the year second in the nation in save percentage (.942). No goaltender in college hockey faced more shots or made more save than she did last year. The 1,232 pucks she stopped in 2018–19 was the third-most saves by a goaltender in a single NCAA season. Those are some undeniably historic numbers. Unsurprisingly, she was named RPI’s Most Valuable Player and was also a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier. Award

The towering goaltender made Sweden’s roster for the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship. Before making that team, Selander made her debut for Team Sweden at the 2018 Four Nations Cup with a 46-save performance against Team Canada. Many consider her to be the future goaltender of Team Sweden.

Selander was Boston’s 20th overall pick (fourth round) in the 2018 NWHL Draft. She’s now the second player from that draft to sign with the team, the first being defender Jenna Rheault (25th overall). All told, five of the players who have signed with the Pride this offseason were selected by the team in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Drafts. Selander is also one of three RPI alumnae to sign with the Pride thus far this offseason.

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With Selander signed, the Pride now have two rookie goaltenders on the roster for the upcoming season. She and Victoria Hanson (Boston University) will compete for the starting role in training camp and in the preseason, but all signs point to Selander being Boston’s new starter. She’s a big workhorse goaltender who has great positioning and excels at taking away the bottom half of the net.

Selander is the second Swede to sign an NWHL contract in the league’s brief history. She represents one of the now six nations that will be represented on the ice for the 2019–20 NWHL season. It’s also worth noting that Selander stands with her Swedish national team teammates as a member of the #FörFramtiden movement.

All data courtesy of hockeyeastonline.com, IIHF.com, and RPIAthletics.com.