Åsa Elfving (born 1 February 1970) is a Swedish former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player for the Swedish national team.

Career

Growing up, Elfving supported

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team currently plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan after losing to HV71 after the play out following the 2024/25 se ...

, where she would play youth hockey. She would spend a year on exchange at

Northfield Mount Hermon School Northfield Mount Hermon School (abbreviated as NMH), is a co-educational college-preparatory school in Gill, Massachusetts. It educates boarding and day students in grades 9–12, as well as post-graduate students. It is a member of the Eight ...

in the US, where she was able to practice hockey more regularly. She was named to Team Sweden for the first-ever IHF Women's World Championship in 1990, where she would put up 3 assists in 5 games, including an assist on the first-ever goal scored in the tournament. She would appear again for the country at the IIHF World Women's Championship in 1992, 1994, and 1997. In 1991, she signed with Nacka HK, as she was studying medicine at the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

. She became noted there for her powerful slapshot. The team would win the national championship 8 times in 9 years during the 1990s. She captained Sweden in the women's tournament at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

, as the country finished in 5th. She would only put up 1 point in 5 games. She would retire after the Olympics, having played a total of 83 for Sweden.

Post-playing career

She would serve as team manager for Sweden in the 2000 IIHF World Women's Championship, as the team finished in fourth. Outside of hockey, she is an

orthopedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

, a career she entered after her mother died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in her last year of high school. She has also served as a team doctor for the Swedish national team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elfving, Asa 1970 births Living people Swedish women's ice hockey players Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey people from Umeå Modo Hockey players Nacka HK players Karolinska Institute alumni