Minatsu Murase

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Minatsu Murase
Born (1995-06-23) 23 June 1995 (age 28)
Stockholm, Sweden
Height 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 65 kg (143 lb; 10 st 3 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
SWHL B team Lausanne HC Féminin
Played for
National team  Sweden
Playing career 2011–present

Minatsu Kovács née Murase (born 23 June 1995) is a Swedish ice hockey goaltender, currently playing in the Swiss Women's Hockey League B (SWHL B) with Lausanne HC Féminin.

She represented Sweden in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Playing career[edit]

Kovács played her first regular season in the Riksserien (renamed SDHL in 2016) in 2012, as a 17-year-old, with AIK Hockey. The following year, she claimed the starting job as the club won the SDHL championship.[1] She was named Best Goaltender of the Riksserien for the 2015–16 season.

Kovács missed most of 2018–19 season due to pregnancy.[2] In the summer of 2019, she left AIK to sign with Luleå HF/MSSK.[3]

In January 2020, Kovács announced that she was leaving Luleå and joining HC Örnen in the men's Hockeyettan as they competed for promotion to HockeyAllsvenskan.[4][5] She did not play during the following season, as she was pregnant with her second child.

Kovács made her return to the SDHL for the 2021–22 season, announcing a one year contract with AIK in April 2021.[6]

She officially retired after the 2021–22 season, explaining that trying to balance playing elite ice hockey and caring for her two young children wasn’t sustainable in a healthy way, particularly since she could not make a living as a player.[7]

After sitting out the 2022–23 regular season, Kovács joined the women's team of Lausanne HC in the SWHL B playoffs and chose to continue with the team in the 2023–24 season.[8][9]

International[edit]

She was named Best Goaltender at the 2013 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, as Sweden won bronze.[10]

She competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.[11]

Personal life[edit]

Kovács and her husband, professional ice hockey forward Robin Kovács, have three children – born in October 2018, September 2020, and November 2022.[12][6][13][14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Fredriksson, Emelie (25 November 2016). "Minatsu Murase: Tror absolut vi kan ta guld". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  2. ^ Skoglund, Henrik (4 April 2018). "OS-målvakten väntar barn med SHL-forwarden". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  3. ^ Rönnkvist, Ronnie (9 September 2019). ""De är ligans bästa målvakter"". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  4. ^ Skoglund, Henrik (17 January 2020). "Efter avskedet - hon kan bli Luleås lösning på målvaktssidan". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  5. ^ Karlsson, Måns (22 February 2020). "Landslagsmålvaktens comeback: Spelade med herrar". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b Fredriksson, Emelie (16 April 2021). "OS-målvakten gör comeback efter barnafödande". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  7. ^ Rönnkvist, Ronnie (30 March 2022). "Efter comebacken – nu lägger målvakten av: "Går inte ihop längre"". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  8. ^ Karlsson, Måns (24 May 2023). "Målvakten gör comeback - här är nya klubben". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ Geiger, Chris (30 September 2023). "Au LHC, la famille Kovacs patine en plein bonheur". 24 heures (in Swiss French). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  10. ^ http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/324/IHW324000_85I_1_0.pdf Archived 19 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ "Athlete Profile: Minatsu MURASE – Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games". www.pyeongchang2018.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  12. ^ Rönnkvist, Ronnie (1 November 2018). "Hockeyparets stora babylycka: "När jag såg honom första gången blev jag tårögd"". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  13. ^ Gustafsson, Mathilda (20 September 2019). "Murase och Kovács – hockeyparet i toppen av den svenska eliten". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  14. ^ Kovács, Robin [@robiinkovacs] (11 November 2022). "Nu är lillebror här och hela familjen samlade😍 tänk vilken super mamma jag har till mina barn, du är bäst @minatsumurase ❤️" (in Swedish). Lausanne. Retrieved 18 December 2022 – via Instagram.

External links[edit]

Stub icon

This Swedish biographical article relating to ice hockey is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Minatsu_Murase&oldid=1219346332"