Women's Ice Hockey | 1/26/2022 4:23:00 PM
TROY, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athlete
Lilli Friis-Hansen has been named to the Danish National Team roster in women's hockey and will compete at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in early February. She will be the sixth Rensselaer hockey player to represent their home country on the world's largest stage and the first from the women's program.
A senior forward from Lyngby, Denmark, Friis-Hansen has played in 16 games for the Engineers this season, compiling six assists for six points. Registering 11 shots, she is a team-best +9, while being assessed two minor penalties for four minutes and blocking nine shots at the defensive end.
Prior to the 2021-22 season, Friis-Hansen had missed just one game in her collegiate career, but stepped away from the team in November to help her Danish squad win its group in Olympic Qualification in Fussen, Germany. In her RPI career, she has two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 86 contests. The former Gentofte HK standout has taken just four minor penalties for eight minutes, with 33 shots on goal.
Through 73 career appearances for Denmark across multiple levels, Friis-Hansen has 50 goals and 50 assists for 100 points. She helped the team to a Silver Medal at the 2018-19 World Championships (D1A) as well as a Gold at the 2017-18 World Junior Championships (D1B), earning Best Forward honors.
Friis-Hansen has earned RPI's Bob Conway Scholar Athlete Award and has been a multiple ECAC Hockey Academic selection, earning Commissioner's List honors in both 2019-20 and 2020-21. She was also named an AHCA All-American Scholar in 2018-19. The Dean's List honoree is a Business and Management major.
RPI's five previous hockey Olympians include Milos Bubela '16, who played for Slovakia in the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Joe Juneau '91 (Canada), Marty Dallman '84 (Austria), Mo Mansi '88 (Italy) and current Rensselaer men's hockey assistant coach
Mathias Lange '09 (Austria).
Denmark, which is makings its first Olympic appearance in women's hockey, opens play on February 4 against China at Wuesong Sports Centre. The Danes then face Japan the following day, before taking on Czech Republic on February 7. The team closes out preliminary round action against Scandinavian-rival Sweden on February 8.
