But the truth is, the women’s program was floundering in the first decade of IIHF play. In the four Women’s World Championships before Nagano, the Swedes finished 4th, 4th, 5th, and 5th.

In Nagano, the team finished 5th, and in the three years after it placed 4th, 4th, and 5th. All of those 4th-place finishes represented losses (usually to Sweden) in the bronze-medal game, and by the time the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City were at hand, the team looked no better or worse than previous years. It seemed like “4th” or “5th” would appear besides the country’s name yet again.

The pessimism was so great within the Swedish Ice Hockey Association that it considered not sending a team to Salt Lake for women’s hockey. But coach Christian Yngve managed to get his players to the Olympics, and that’s when little, blonde, 15-year-old Kim Martin took over.

Annica Ahlen started the team’s first game in the net, a 3-2 win over Russia, and Martin made her Olympics debut two days later, recording a shutout in an easy 7-0 win over Kazakhstan. The goalies then each played one of the big teams. Ahlen was peppered with 70 shots against Canada and gave up all eleven goals in an 11-0 loss, but Martin was excellent against the Americans, stopping 28 of 32 shots in a much closer 4-0 defeat.

For coach Yngve, the choice was clear – Martin would start the bronze-medal game against the Finns. It was a wise decision as Finland was the better team in every aspect of that game – except goaltending. The Swedes were outshot 33-20, but Martin was sensational and Finland suffered a shocking 2-1 loss.