Thea Johansson, a forward at the University of Minnesota Duluth, joins Rinkside Rundown to talk about her path from Sweden to NCAA hockey and now toward the 2026 PWHL Draft. Read and subscribe at www.rinksiderundown.ca.

Growing up in a competitive athletic family in Sweden, Thea was surrounded by sport and learned early how to train, compete, and handle pressure while still enjoying the game. She walks through her early years in the SDHL, what it meant to leave home for Mercyhurst University, and how transferring to Minnesota Duluth challenged her and helped her grow as both a player and a person at the NCAA level.

Thea also reflects on her mindset and professionalism, the skills she has worked to refine, and what she took from her time with the Swedish national program, including Olympic dreams and the reality of chasing them. With the 2026 PWHL Draft ahead, Thea also shares how she is preparing for that next step, what excites her about the opportunity, and the advice she would give younger players: have fun, be in the moment, be curious, ask questions, and remember that you love this sport for a reason.

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Visit Meg's Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/madebymegsimon14

Middlebury College forward and 2026 Hockey Humanitarian Award winner Meg Simon joins Rinkside Rundown to share how a life spent around the game shaped who she is on and off the ice.

From moving more than 50 times for her dad’s pro hockey career and growing up in NHL locker rooms, to coming to Middlebury as a golfer and betting on herself to join the women’s hockey team, Meg’s path has been anything but typical.

We talk about the team culture she fell in love with, the community work inspired by watching her parents use their platforms to give back, and how she now tries to be “more than just a hockey player” for the kids and community around her. She also opens up about homesickness, finding home in a small Vermont town, running a little Etsy shop on the side, and the three simple rules from her parents that still guide everything she does: play fair, play hard, have fun, and be a good person.

Since our conversation, Meg was named the 2026 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient, and you discover more here: https://hockeyhumanitarian.org/news/middlebury-colleges-meg-simon-named-2026-hockey-humanitarian-award-recipient/

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Friend of the show Alyssa Regalado returns to the show for the first time since Episode 35, and shares how Cornell University has helped to prepare her for the next chapter of her hockey career with the upcoming 2026 PWHL Draft.

Alyssa shares more about the mental side of the game, how she's grown as a leader, and the lessons she's learned through the ups and downs of collegiate hockey.

We also discuss what it would mean to Alyssa to see her professional dreams become a reality with the PWHL Draft on the horizon.

Check out Episode 35 here and discover Alyssa's origin story: https://youtu.be/Gmv92jxJlRs

Subscribe to Rinkside Rundown for weekly conversations with players from around the world of women's hockey, and for ongoing coverage of the upcoming 2026 PWHL Draft. And visit www.rinksiderundown.ca for even more coverage.