"Could have paid to play hockey"

She made contact with HV71 herself, got a contract and now the Spanish country hockey goalkeeper can win an SM gold.

- When I first started ice hockey, I was so bad. I tried to do the land hockey moves on the ice and didn't know how to slip. After the first training, I went home and cried at my mom and said I didn't want to play anymore.

It was the beginning of an unlikely journey. Through games in Finland she has made her way to HV71. And that she should be in goal was not a matter of course for the 21-year-old who started as an outdoor player.

- My coach said I had something and that I could be a goalkeeper. That I was born as one. But he said that just because I was the worst outside player and always had to sit on the bench, she laughs.

- But I believed in him and thought "yes, I may have something".

In Finland, Alba Gonzalo had to pay to play ice hockey.

- It was pretty big sums. But what I got from the hockey ... It means I could have paid to play. It's the best I know.