“I think Felicia was overwhelmed by everything yesterday, but so, so happy to meet Oscar and seeing the guys on the ice during practice,” said Patricia Tuesday afternoon. “Nika is still over the moon getting to meet Oscar and that she was able to talk to him. That meant everything to her. Now Nika is just so ready for it to be Saturday already!”
Fisker Molgaard Humbled by the Support
For his part, Fisker Molgaard was happy to meet the family and didn’t even change out of his skates or practice gear before heading back out to the rink to meet them. The 2023 second-round draft choice was touched by the family traveling to the Pacific Northwest with him in mind. It’s a quarter-hour none of the parties on hand will forget.
“We appreciate everything and how Oscar went above and beyond for the girls to meet him,” said Patricia. “That means so much to us. He was just so nice and welcoming toward them. It’s made their whole vacation. It will be one thing they will keep with them forever.”
No doubt, the Danish get-together will be discussed with both girls’ hockey teammates back in Copenhagen. And the same for dad’s adult hockey squad.
“Rasmus always wanted to play hockey growing up,” said Patricia about her husband, whose cousin is married to 34-year-old Team Denmark defenseman Jesper Jensen. “But Rasmus’ mom was like, ‘No, that’s too dangerous. You’re not allowed to do that.’ Then when we had two girls, he thought, ‘Go for it’ for both the girls and him. Nika has been playing since she was five years old. Felicia started at three-and-a-half.”
Denmark Hockey Participation Growing
There are an estimated 8,000 registered hockey players in Denmark with 25 to 30 percent females. Molgaard and his Team Denmark mates have fueled an increase in participation with recent successes in international competition, most especially an all-time best fourth-place finish at last spring’s International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship highlighted by a quarterfinal upset over Team Canada. One further proof case: Younger Felicia’s age group has significantly more girls than older sister Nika’s level.
Fittingly for the Kraken organization, Denmark’s first big jump in hockey participation occurred in 2002 and 2003 when former near-1,000-game NHLer and current Kraken player development consultant Frans Nielsen was part of the first-ever Danish team to advance to the top tier of international men’s hockey competition. Nielsen was named to the IIHF Hall of Fame last spring, concurrent with Fisker Molgaard (with whom Nielsen worked extensively upon being drafted by Seattle) and the Danes advancing to the medal round for the first time.
Early NHL Impressions All Positive
For his part, Molgaard has played in six Kraken games this season, including Tuesday’s 3-0 loss against Edmonton. He has contributed a couple of assists on key goals in wins along with solid play in all three zones. This is effectively his fourth pro hockey season given he logged three years in Sweden’s top professional league – and his poise on the ice shows it. That’s both for Seattle and American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley (10 goals, 22 assists for 32 points in 46 games as an AHL rookie, tied at 12th most points among rookies).