There was a moment when, in every major city in the world, people could find a news story about Kim Martín Hasson. It was 2006, and the Winter Olympics were underway in Turin, Italy. Sweden, Martín Hasson’s team, was playing against the U.S. in the Olympic women’s hockey semi-finals. She saved 37 out of 39 shots. The teams were tied. Pernilla Winberg (a UMD alumna) scored and after four rounds of overtime, Maria Rooth (another UMD alumna) scored a goal for the win. Afterward, Martín Hasson appeared on billboards in Sweden and strangers could pick her out of a crowd. “People I had never met would recognize me,” she says.
Martín Hasson has been making news ever since. After she played on the Olympic team that won the silver in 2006 she was recruited to play on a men’s hockey team in Sweden. That would have made her the first woman there to play for a professional men's team, but she accepted a scholarship to play on UMD’s NCAA Division I women’s team instead. “It was a great decision for me,” Martín Hasson says.
She played for UMD in 2008, as they beat Wisconsin for their fourth NCAA Division I national championship. In 2011, Martin was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Year and was named to the league's All-WCHA Second Team. That year, she also graduated from UMD with her degree in marketing.
Currently, Martín Hasson is the first general manager of a women’s hockey team, Frölunda HC, in Gothenburg (Gotebörg), Sweden. “The women’s league is getting stronger, and Frölunda is helping make that happen.” Part of that is due to another UMD alumna, Erika Holst (‘03). She became the first head coach for the women’s team.
Martín Hasson also oversees the hockey gymnasium, a Frölunda HC program for girls. They are committed to promoting women's ice hockey and empowering young girls to pursue the sport. “Working with the young women is one of the best parts of the job,” she says. “Sometimes, I can see my dreams coming through in them.”