“It's a true honour to be recognized and to be inducted with all these amazing athletes,” Kim Martin-Hasson said as she started her speech last May in Stockholm at the IIHF Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies.
 
Kim Martin was part of a group of players in the early 2000s that first resurrected the Swedish women’s hockey program and then took it to its greatest heights. She played her first games at the Women’s Worlds in 2001, in Minneapolis, as a 15-year-old. Her debut came on 5 April 2001, coming on in relief for Annica Ahlen in a game against Canada. Three days later, she made her first start, a 3-1 win over Kazakhstan in which she faced 16 shots. The team included up-and-comers Erika Holst and Maria Rooth, as well as veterans Gunilla Andersson and Pernilla Burholm. Although the team finished fifth, and Martin played only two games, this was the start of something significant.
 
In 2002, in Salk Lake, the Swedes almost didn’t send a team to the Olympics because the program was in disarray and little was expected of it. But Sweden qualified for the bronze-medal game and, backed by Martin, a week shy of her 16th birthday, the team pulled off a massive upset, beating Finland, 2-1, and claiming bronze. Martin stopped 32 of 33 shots in the game and was heroic in the victory.
 
“When I started playing hockey at the age of nine,” Martin-Hasson said during her induction speech this past May, “I had no idea that women’s hockey even existed. Like many players, my dream was to play in the NHL, and my idol was my brother. At 13, I discovered women’s hockey, and at 14 I had the honour of putting on the Sweden jersey for the first time. My international breakthrough was at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. I was only 15 when our head coach Christian Yngve, who passed away last year, trusted me to play the bronze-medal game against Finland. We won, and I will never forget that moment.”
 
At home, Martin was playing in Sweden’s junior leagues, and with the cancellation of the 2003 Women’s Worlds because of SARS it wasn’t until 2004 that she played internationally again. The team finished fourth at those Women’s Worlds, but the team continued to evolve. A year later, Sweden lost a close 4-1 game to the U.S. in the semi-finals and then whipped the Finns, 5-2, to win another bronze. That set the table for an historic Olympics in Turin, in 2006.

Huge Victory over USA

Now a mature team with a young core that was also experienced, Sweden beat Russia and Italy in the round robin to set up a semi-finals date with the United States. pulled off a stunning 3-2 win over the Americans in the semi-finals. They trailed 2-0, but tied the game thanks to two goals from Rooth in the second period, and after a goalless overtime teams went to a penalty-shot shootout. Martin was letter perfect, stopping Natalie Darwitz, Jenny Potter, Angela Ruggiero, and Krissy Wendell, while Pernilla Winberg and Rooth scored for Sweden, sending the team to a most improbable gold-medal game against Canada. Sweden lost in the final, winning the surprising silver medal, but it was the first—and still only—women’s Olympic final that did not feature the two North American teams.
 
In the fall of 2006, Martin joined the University of Minnesota-Duluth, three senior-level medals already on her mantle. The Bulldogs were expecting big things from their Swedish goalie, and she didn’t disappoint. In her first year, she took the Bulldogs to a national championship, shutting out Wisconsin, 4-0, in the deciding game. A year later, she sported a record 31-4-1 record, and over four years with UMD she won a record 67 games.
 
“My passion for the sport led me to Minnesota-Duluth, where I had the privilege of playing college hockey,” she continued during her speech in Stockholm. “That period was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. What I remember are the countless hours of hard work with teammates, and the memories we created.”

Last Medal Won in 2007

Martin continued to be the number-one goalie for Damkronor as well. She led them to a third WW bronze in 2007, in what was to be her final medal with Sweden. The team was starting to re-build, and the support programs had not developed talents to replace players like Rooth and Holst. In league play, Martin gave the Russian league a try for one season before finishing her career in Linkoping, retiring in 2015.
 
In all, Martin played in four Olympics and seven Women’s Worlds, 35 games in total, leading Sweden to a position of respectability and winning four medals along the way. Small but agile and fearless, she relied on instinct and anticipation to keep the puck out, and her competitive fire never failed, whether she was playing the Canadians or Americans, competing for a medal, or trying to establish herself at an age when most young players are concerned only with high-school homework and exams.
 
“Looking at where women's hockey is today, I'm in awe,” said Martin-Hasson, who now serves as the general manager of Frolunda’s SDHL team. “It’s incredible to see the growth, the recognition and the passion surrounding the sport. I feel so fortunate that I played a role in its development, and I'm excited to see where the future takes us. For any young girl dreaming of playing hockey, know that anything is possible.”