Thea Johansson On Never Settling For “Enough,” The Support Of Family, And The Importance Of Going Outside Her Comfort Zone
University of Minnesota Duluth forward Thea Johansson is preparing for the upcoming PWHL Draft, and sat down with me to discuss her journey, mindset, and being a professional.
Thea Johansson, who was born in Ljungby, spent much of her hockey career back home in her native Sweden, and did so within what could only be described as a very athletic family, but that might be underselling it by a long shot. Her brother plays in HockeyEttan, the third-highest tier of men’s ice hockey in Sweden, her father was a referee in the SHL, and her mother was a top badminton player in Sweden. Through it all, Thea learned valuable lessons she’s taken with her every step of the way.
“In my hockey career, it’s always about striving to be a little bit better every day,” she said. “We’re talking about the 1% being better every day, and that’s for sure something that I think has come with that.”
Thea developed her game through the Swedish system, spending time with both IF Troja-Ljungby in the Damettan and HV71 in the SDHL. And it was the latter that offered her the opportunity to play professionally at only 14 years old, albeit with limited minutes early on, but to learn from professionals in a meaningful way.
“It’s just so crazy sometimes to look back at the team that we had, or the players that I played with,” Thea said. “I think that kind of put the foundation. Watching them every single day, I could see where they put their extra energy into, or the extra time into doing things like shooting extra pucks or doing extra workouts. I think that’s a huge part of being that young and seeing girls do that and trying to do the same.”
Following her time in Sweden, Thea stepped outside her comfort zone. She moved to the United States to pursue a collegiate career in the NCAA, first with Mercyhurst before wrapping up this year at the University of Minnesota Duluth. And it was thanks to her dad’s encouragement that this move made even more sense to Thea.
“When I was deciding if I was going to go or if I was going to stay, he told me that you usually don’t regret the things you do, you regret the things you don’t do,” she recalled. “And that kind of stuck with me.” That mindset helped encourage her to, after three successful seasons with Mercyhurst, make the switch and transfer to UMD, not because she didn’t enjoy her time there, or the coaches and her teammates, but because she needed to come back to that same advice her dad gave her.
Thea also recently had the opportunity to represent her country at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, which felt like a dream to her but also offered her yet another chance to grow and develop as a player and as a person.
“For me, it’s clear that we’re a super close group, a young group, but a group that has been doing a lot together and going through adversity together,” said Thea. “The connection we have in that team, we’re all so close, and I think there’s value in that. But it felt like a dream.”
And speaking of dreams, the next one for Thea is approaching quickly, and that’s the upcoming PWHL Draft and the chance to play in the best league in the world.
“It would be so cool to get the opportunity to play in that league,” she said. “I’m watching PWHL as fast as there is a game on, and at the end of the day, it would be just crazy. I almost get goosebumps, and my heart rate goes up just thinking about it.”
Knowing that playing in the best league in the world could very well be in her future, Thea uses that as motivation to ensure she never settles and always pushes herself, meaning this summer, she’ll be training harder than she ever has in the past.
For Thea Johansson, her hockey journey started all the way back in Sweden in a home which instilled in her the importance of experiencing as many things as possible so you never look back with regret. And that mindset brought her to North America for a collegiate career in the NCAA, helped her succeed with the national program, and now she is on the verge of joining the PWHL. And through all the lessons learned over a successful career, Thea never lost sight of the value of family, of remaining humble, and of what success truly looks like, both on and off the ice.