Sara Karin Maria Grahn (born 25 September 1988) is a Swedish ice hockey goaltender for Luleå HF/MSSK in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (, SDHL) and the Swedish national team. She is the longest tenured goaltender in SDHL history, the only to have ever played more than 300 games, and has won the SDHL championship once.
Career
Growing up in Hallsberg, Grahn began skating at the age of four and began playing as a goaltender at the age of ten. When Riksserien was founded as the top flight of women's hockey in Sweden in 2007, she signed professionally with Linköping HC.
After three years in Linköping, she left the club to sign with Brynäs IF, attracted in part by the more professional environment and the presence of goaltending coach Pecka Alcén.
In February 2015, she posted a 55-save shutout in a 1–0 victory over Leksands IF in the playoff quarterfinals. She was named the Riksserien Goaltender of the Year for the 2014–15 season.
In the 2015–16 season, she played two matches for Brynäs' U20 boys' team, posting a .971 save percentage. That year, she was also loaned out to Hockeytvåan club Oppala IK, in the third division of Swedish men's hockey, for a game in late November 2015, posting a shutout.
After eight seasons with Brynäs, she left the club to sign with reigning champions Luleå HF/MSSK ahead of the 2018–19 SDHL season, citing the greater investment into women's hockey in Luleå and the delays in addressing problems in Brynäs.
International career
Grahn has represented the Swedish national team at three consecutive Olympics, making her Olympic debut at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and representing the country again in 2014 and 2018. She, however, didn't play a game at the 2010 Olympics, serving as the team's third goaltender.
She made her IIHF World Championship debut for Sweden at the 2007 IIHF Women's World Championship, and has appeared in an additional nine World Championships since.
She took part in the 2019 Sweden women's national ice hockey team strike.
Personal life
Grahn has studied at the Luleå University of Technology.
In August 2018, she launched the Sara Grahn Goalie Development Camp for young girls in Sandviken.
References
External links
1988 births
Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Living people
Olympic ice hockey players for Sweden
Ice hockey people from Örebro
Swedish women's ice hockey goaltenders
Brynäs IF (women) players
Örebro HK players
Linköping HC (women) players
Luleå HF/MSSK players