Fanny Rask

Fanny Rask (born 21 May 1991) is a Swedish retired ice hockey forward. As a member of the Swedish national team, she competed in the women’s ice hockey tournaments at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics and at the IIHF World Women's Championship in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Her thirteen-season club career in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) was played with AIK IF, HV71, Linköping HC, and Leksands IF.

International career

Rask was selected to the roster of the Swedish national team playing in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She played in all six games but recorded the lowest icetime of any Swedish forward.

Rask was selected to play for Sweden in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She played in all six games and notched six points (2 goals + 4 assists), leading all Swedish skaters in the tournament.

Rask made two appearances for the Sweden women's national under-18 ice hockey team, at the IIHF World Women's U18 Championships in 2008 and 2009, including winning a bronze medal in the 2009 event.

Personal life

Rask comes from a family of hockey players. Her uncle, Peter Emanuelsson, briefly coached in the Hockeytvåan and her cousins, Kasper and Simon Emanuelsson, played in lower-level elite leagues. Her younger brother, Victor Rask, was selected in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes and currently plays with the Minnesota Wild.

In 2017, Rask was able to become a professional athlete through grants from the Swedish Olympic Committee in combination with her SDHL salary and some financial support from her brother, Victor.

In July 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Rask announced her retirement from hockey via an Instagram post in which she voiced her frustration with the pace of professionalization in women’s hockey and her exhaustion with the financial insecurity of being an SDHL player.

What I dreamed of in my youth was to become a professional [ice hockey player]. That the [women’s] league would grow to such an extent that we could live on hockey. (No, not millions, everyone knows it is unreasonable still.) But I have always thought that I would be able to join-in when we become professionals. But it has not happened and I feel that we are at a standstill... And I don't see that there will be any change. Of course, I know that things are happening but for me it is going too slowly and I am incredibly uncertain that it will ever happen... So maybe I chose the wrong path, had the wrong dream and too high of demands. I hope there are some people who still have the strength to carry on and who work for a future for women's hockey. My energy has run out, I'm empty and I'm sorry.

Career statistics

International career

Through 2013–14 season