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*NaomiMannequeen* · 09-23-2023, 02:44 AM

“Picking it up off the boards now in her own zone now is Hansen who quickly dishes it out to Sonja Solberg on the wing. The Raiders are moving up the neutral zone with about 12 seconds remaining in this tie game. Sonja Solberg moving up to the offensive zone alongside her twin sister Frøya. It’s a two on two. Larsen tries to go for the big hit and OH! Sonja gets around her with a windmill! It’s a Two on One now as the Solbergs enter the offensive zone. 9 seconds remaining, Karlsen getting ready to intercept the pass. Sonja goes for the shot, or does she? She fakes the shot; baits Karlsen to attempt a poke check to deflect and the pass is executed flawlessly just Frøya against the goalie now a quick snap shot… and she scoooooooooores! Bar down stick side, the Solberg twins do it again! With 5.7 seconds remaining in the third period, I think this one is sealed folks! The Fredrikstad Raiders make it a 4-3 game and move on to the U18 Norwegian Youth League finals!”

Born to parents Oskar and Frida on May 7th, Frøya and Sonja Solberg came to the world in the city of Fredrikstad in Norway. Early childhood was quite ordinary for the two girls as their family lived an ordinary quiet life. The two often had to go to a daycare as their parents tried their best to make ends meet and couldn’t stay home to look over the girls before they went to school. Little did they know that sending them to daycare would be the best decision for these two girls.

One fateful afternoon in early winter the first year that the twins went to daycare, an ice rink was built for the kids just outside where everyone normally went to play. The anticipation was building as the kids were waiting and waiting for the ice to finally freeze up. Soon enough, it was time to lace up the skates and head onto the ice. Most of the kids preferred to simply skate as no one was quite yet agile at the tender age of four. Though some kids had already gotten the hang of it and some of the other kids who sometimes showed up when they didn’t have school most definitely were miles ahead compared to the younger kids. And it’s exactly the older kids that got Frøya and Sonja’s attention.

Playing a little game on the ice with these wooden sticks, a rubber disk and two large sticks planted at the edge of the ice in the snowbank; the older kids seemed to be having a lot of fun. A fun that both the twins wanted in on. Asking to play they were originally rejected because they hadn’t skated before not owning any skates themselves, though after talking with the caretaker, both of the girls were lent out a pair of skates and some sticks and the older kids were also told to let the two girls play with them.

The game went about as you’d expect for people who were having their first time skating. Both of the sisters fell a lot, struggled to get up or move around for a while. Eventually, they both got the hang of it, Frøya more so than Sonja. After an hour they were both managing to stay on their feet and move forward with some speed, though still falling here and there. It was at that point that Frøya officially got her first taste of hockey.

The older kids kept passing to each other, ignoring the girls for the most part. They didn’t care, but they still tried their best to do what was needed to win. Being ignored though eventually had its benefits as one of the older boys gave a check to another, knocking him to the ice. As most of the other kids laughed and the others watched on as the kid who had been knocked down was getting ready to fight the bigger kid, the puck happened to glide to Frøya. She took a shot on the only player who wasn’t entirely distracted, the goalie. Try as he might, however, he was simply too late. The distraction of the kids fighting was enough to get him to miss the puck and the four year old Frøya had scored her very first goal… despite falling down as she took a very slow shot.

The kids were stunned, unable to fathom the fact that the young girl had scored, but her team was ecstatic! They had just won the game! They didn’t care who had scored the goal, they just cared that someone had! And in that moment of joy, a spark ignited in Frøya and she knew she had to play hockey.

Begging her parents, Frøya managed to convince her parents to sign both her and Sonja up for hockey. Frøya seemed naturally gifted, though Sonja seemed to be a step behind. That didn’t stop her from progressing though and soon both of the girls had reached a top level of play by the age of 8. Being such a high level posed a great deal of stress on their parents as money was always tight and raising two kids in hockey meant a lot of equipment, a lot of private coaching and a lot of money spent. Little by little though, as the girls got better, coaches would take notice and some would even give private coaching free of charge as they just wanted to see the girls reach their potential.

Sonja was always along for the ride with Frøya to learn, but she never really had her defining moment, the spark, to wish to be the very best until early on in secondary school. Slowly growing up to be a bit more of the popular girls, both twins had gotten lots of attention from boys. While Frøya never cared for relationships at the time, Sonja liked the attention. She decided to bring that energy into her hockey. While she had always been focused on goal scoring like her sister, she started to develop her agility and puckhandling skills much more so than Frøya.

Day after day, Sonja would spend hours upon hours on the synthetic surface practising with the Super Deker to get her hands up to an incredible level. She kept practising lap after lap, doing some intense power skating to get her edge work up and her speed, acceleration, balance, stamina and all to be above the curve, way more than the average player of her age and skill.

The training would eventually pay off as one day her moment of spark finally came. It was an ordinary game, no high stakes, no elimination rounds, the girls had already secured a place in the playoffs, there wasn’t much on the line, a simple 2 points towards their season that didn’t make a difference. That didn’t matter to the Solberg twins though. They were playing as if their lives depended on it. Having already two goals on the night Frøya was playing fantastically. Assisting on both those goals, Sonja was also playing really hard, she even had tallied one herself on her own, but that night, she was bobbing and weaving through anyone and everyone. They were actually down by one goal, five to four. Without too much time left, the coach had pulled the goalie to get the sixth skater on the ice. Once again, it wasn’t an important match, but to Sonja, it meant everything to get on there and show the world what she was made of.

Skating it in from her own zone as the opposing team had managed to get in a good clear that avoided icing from their own zone, she skated with speed, a simple toe drag got her through one of the first players, then she flipped the puck over another, bounced it midair to keep control and possession as she entered the offensive zone having to get through both defensemen. But they couldn’t stop her. She skated around to the backside of the net and started going for a michigan, but she knew she couldn’t beat the goalie. The other defensemen was starting to skate at her to hit her to stop the puck from being tucked in. What they didn’t know was that they were all falling for Sonja’s plan. She whipped the puck from the side of the net across to her sister who was waiting for a pass all along. Batting out of midair, Frøya finished her hat trick, which only made her fall in love with hockey even more, but she knew that this play wouldn’t have been possible without her sister’s incredible agility, speed and hands.

It was after that play, that Sonja realised that her practice and hard work finally paid off. It was that pass that showed her that she didn’t need to be an elite scorer to show the world that she was just as talented as her sister. It was that play that sparked the playmaker inside of her. As for Frøya, it was that play that really pushed her love of goal scoring even more. Being able to finish such an incredible play from her sister brought her immense joy. She just felt like she needed to reward her sister for such a nice pass by making sure it was buried deep in the netting.

The rest of their lower secondary and the start of their upper secondary school years were spent tearing up the U18 Norwegian Youth League. The Fredrikstad Raiders would go on to the playoffs in each of their secondary school years, though would unfortunately never win it all. They came close a few times, making it to the finals once in their final year of lower secondary school at the age of 16, otherwise finishing in the round of 16 or quarter-finals every other time.

Their hunger to win it all only grew as they started their final season. Their first and only year of upper secondary school playing in the U18 Norwegian Youth League was their final chance for glory in Norway before they’d hopefully get drafted to the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League. It was the stepping stone they were both hoping to climb up to the Simulation Hockey League.

Their final season went fantastically as Frøya scored a total 43 goals and 51 assists for a total of 94 points in 66 games, while Sonja tallied a total of 38 goals and 57 assists for a total of 95 points in 66 games. When the playoffs came around the two girls turned into a pair of demons, winning the Round of 16 Best of 1 with a score of 9 to 2 each tallying up 6 points. Their quarter final game was a little closer but they still managed a 4 to 1 victory each tallying up 2 points that game. The semi final was a really close game as the play by play would have shown. A 4 to 3 victory for the Raiders with Frøya scoring 2 and Sonja putting up 3 apples would bring them officially to the finals. Although victory was short lived as despite their best efforts each netting a goal and 2 assists that game, the Raiders would lose 6 to 4 and officially ending their U18 careers. A total of 8 goals and 5 assists for Frøya and a total of 4 goals and 10 assists from Sonja in those 4 games.

Their hunger would not be satiated. Having lost once again so close to a cup, the bloodthirst for victory lives in their blood and yearns to come out. With the Simulation Major Junior Hockey League entry draft right around the corner, these girls still have lots to prove. Who knows where their stories will take them? Will they be separated for the first time in their careers? Will they keep playing together as a team decides to bank on the synergy these two twins have? Only time will tell and their story will continue.

Hello Hello Naomi here! I hope you all enjoyed the story of how the Solberg sisters made it to where they are now! This part of the article is very important for the media graders as well... @Tsunny and I wrote this article together! She helped me brainstorm and correct her parts of the story so if possible we've love if payment would be split between the two of us evenly! We'll be looking to make a Post-Draft interview with tomorrow's results! See you next time everyone!

Edit: Changed the formatting for Dark Mode People! <3