Class of 2020 UBC T-Birds Women’s Hockey alumna Mathea Fischer is playing professionally for Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) in Stockholm, Sweden.
A month of stay in Sweden, Fischer is settling in with her stay so far.
“I've been in Canada for the past seven years, so a change of scenery and just trying something new. You get so used to the same routine and being around the same people. It’s kind of a different style of playing hockey over here. So, [I’m] really excited for that and then I think we have a great chance at the championship this year so it'll be fun.”
Another benefit of starting her pro career in Sweden is being able to get in touch with her family without the time difference, Fischer said.
Fischer began playing hockey in her home country of Norway before moving to Cornwall, Ontario to play at an academy for two years. She played for UBC from 2015 through 2020, while she was a student at UBC’a Sauder School of Business.
“What I miss most [about UBC] must be the people,” Fischer said. “I made so many great friends, all my teammates throughout the years, and my coaches too. And they really made my time special there so it's so weird not going back and seeing everyone.”
During her time at UBC, Fischer served as the captain in the 2019/20 season, where she was awarded Top Forward, after serving as an alternate captain 2018/19 captain. She appeared in 135 regular season games over her 5 years as a T-Bird. In her final year, she appeared in 27 games and scored 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists).
Fischer said her professional career involves “more hockey” compared to her time as a Thunderbird. Although she still has a lot of fun with her current teammates, she misses her time at UBC.
“At school, everyone's in the same area pretty much so it's really easy to get know people. You study together and you get that social aspect of it more. Whereas, here, [it] is a bit more like hockey's your job. When you're at the rink, you’re a professional,” said Fischer.
She wished the UBC teams “best of luck” this year.
“I know a lot of them can’t play, which is unfortunate, but make the most out of your time [because] it flies by and [be] really lucky to be at such a great school and with a good athletic program,” said Fischer.
This article was updated to correct the spelling of Djurgårdens IF and Stockholm.