World Juniors 2024

"He's playing much better in higher leverage": Meet Stian Solberg, the future of Norway's blue line

GOTHENBURG, Sweden – Stian Solberg wasn't meant to play hockey.

His father, Christian, competed in alpine sports growing up, mostly skiing; his mother, Helene, was a short-distance sprinter, competing in the 60- and 100-metre tracks. Neither played professionally, and they've since become entrepreneurs.

The plan for their son was to play soccer. It's Norway's most popular sport, three spots in front of hockey, which also lags behind cross-country skiing and the biathlon in popularity within the northernmost Scandinavian nation.

And that's how this journey started. They enrolled Stian in the local academy at a young age and, by some strange twist of fate, wound up hockey parents in barely a year's time.

“He was very young, and he was playing soccer. That was his first sport,” Christian told EP

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This article is about:
World Juniors 2024 2024 NHL Draft Hasle/Løren Hasle/Løren Hasle/Løren 2 Hasle/Løren 3 Hasle/Løren U17 Hasle/Løren U18 Hasle/Løren U18 2 Hasle/Løren U19 Hasle/Løren U21 Norway U20 Norway U20 (all) Norway U20 Vålerenga Vålerenga Vålerenga U16 Vålerenga U17 Vålerenga U18 Vålerenga U19 Vålerenga U20 WJC-20 D1A WJC-20 Norway Norway U18 Norway U20 Stian Solberg Christer Nylund
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