Physical Finn Ronja Savolainen to square off against fiancee in Ottawa Charge PWHL opener

Article content

When Ronja Savolainen makes her debut for the Ottawa Charge in Saturday’s season opener, she will see a face she loves among the strangers playing for the Montreal Victoire.

But just because Anna Kjellbin is her fiancee doesn’t mean Savolainen will play her differently than anyone else.

“I don’t care who’s in front of me … if it’s going to be her, I’m going to hit her,” Savolainen, Ottawa’s second-round draft pick last June, said of Kjellbin, who Montreal selected in the sixth round the same day. “We can take it up after the game.

“When you play, you just play. You don’t really think about who’s there. You’re friends after. On the ice, she’s my enemy. That’s how it goes.”

Told about the promise Brady Tkachuk and his brother Matthew made to their mom about never fighting, Savolainen laughed and then said: “You never know … if she gets me angry, then let’s go.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

“No, I don’t think there will ever be that kind of fight,” she added. “But I don’t care who I hit, I just hit.”

Born in Helsinki exactly 27 years ago on Friday, Savolainen met the 30-year-old Kjellbin, a Swede who is from Daniel Alfredsson’s hometown of Gothenburg, a half-decade ago when they were opponents in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL).

“We’ve been together five years now,” Savolainen said. “It was finally time to make her my fiancee.”

They’ve also played against each other many times in International games.

“I’m usually the one who goes home as a winner,” Savolainen joked. “I hope it’s going to be like that here too.”

When they decided to make themselves available in the PWHL’s second draft, the two defenders dreamed of being selected by the same team.

“We kind of knew it was never going to happen,” Savolainen said. “We were super lucky that we are so close to each other. It was the best thing that could happen, that she got drafted there and I got drafted here. I was more nervous to see where she was ending up than where I ended up.

“We’re in the same country, at least, the same side of the world, so I’m super happy. We can have a coffee someday when it’s a day off if we want. I’m just happy and looking forward to seeing her journey.”

Savolainen recently gave her future wife a short tour of the nation’s capital.

“It was amazing,” Savolainen said. “We went to the Christmas market close to TD Place and then we went shopping and just walked around. I showed her what I knew. I don’t really know many places yet, but she loved it. I think she loves Ottawa more than Montreal, to be honest.”

Savolainen admits she didn’t exactly play her game when Ottawa had two exhibitions, one against Montreal at a mini-camp held in Verdun last week.

“I didn’t think about it first, but when I stepped out on the ice, it was a small rink and everything went so fast,” she said. “You just wanted to be as good as possible and you were kind of overthinking. The second game, you kind of calm down and you’re just like, ‘OK, this team is amazing. ‘(Teammates) helped me every time I go out there, every time I came back to the bench, they’re cheering for each other.

“I know I can play better. I just need to get my confidence up and, you know, work hard during the practices too. It’s a new country, a new culture. Everything needs to settle down. But day by day, it’s getting better. I love being here.”

Teams have been sent a video from the league showing what they can and can’t get away with when it comes to contract.

Savolainen says the Charge can work within the parameters.

“We want to be a tough team to meet,” she said. “We want to be the team that no one wants to play against because we’re going to play physical. We’re going to be tough in front of the net and in every corner. We’ve been working on that. It looks good, and it’s going to be exciting to see how it works in the games.

“We have a lot of speed. We have a lot of talented players. I think we have everything, the whole package, and that’s what you need. We just don’t have the physical part, we have everything. Great players, young players with a lot of skills in their body. We love to help each other. So I would say we have everything. And I can’t wait to get it out.”

She’s also looking forward to getting back to the rough-and-tough style she grew up playing, anxious to develop a reputation in the PWHL of being a player opponents would rather avoid.

“I hope people are going to think about that when they play against me,” Savolainen said. “I think I have much more to give than in the first two (exhibition) games we had. I was a little nervous … I know I have more to give this team.

“I love physical games, and I think I can handle that too, and just protect my body better than maybe the smaller players.”

WORTH NOTING

The Charge have finalized their 23-player roster by signing Swedish defender and camp invite Jessica Adolfsson, forward and camp invite Taylor House, and returning defender Sam Isbell to reserve player contracts.

“We have now signed six of our seven draft picks from 2024,” said general manager Mike Hirshfeld, confirming that fourth-round pick Stephanie Markowski, a defender from Edmonton, and fifth-round pick Mannon McMahon, a forward from Maple Grove, Minn., have inked one-year standard player agreements.

“Stephanie is a competitive and tough defender who will help us get stronger on the back end. She’s going to be a good player in this league, and we like her upside.

“Mannon was everything we thought she would be at training camp. She was competitive. She battled. Her speed is top notch and we also really like her upside potential.”

Saturday’s season opener at Place Bell in Laval can be seen on TSN1 and RDS1. Game time is 5 p.m.