Bergesen and Norway take home gold at World Championship – Mount Royal University Cougars Athletics & Recreation

Striking gold is nothing new to former Mount Royal Cougar Emma Bergesen. This past week Bergesen participated in the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship (Division I, Group A) taking place in Klagenfurt, Austria. Bergesen hailing from hometown Stavanger, Norway, represented her country proudly helping them into promotion to the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship which will take place in Czechia.

Bergesen and Norway had to take on Austria, France, Hungary, Netherlands, and Korea In the Division I, Group A tournament. Bergesen started the tournament off hot, propelling Norway to a victory over Austria 3-2. She added two assists including the primary on the game-winning goal.

Following that, they took on France which would end up being their biggest competition in the tournament. The match went the full 60 minutes resulting in overtime to be played. No goal was scored and Norway went on to win 4-3 in a shootout. Bergesen added one assist in the match.

The game against France led to a streak of shootout wins. Norway took on Hungary where Bergsen added the only assist for her country winning the match 2-1. They then took on the Netherlands where the game went scoreless till the shootout where Norway was victorious 1-0 continuing the win streak but snapping the point streak.

In the final game, Norway took on Korea. This game was a pivotal one for Norway as if France beat Hungary they would finish first in points securing the championship. Only 2:27 into the contest, Norwegian nerves were settled when Bergesen drove towards the Korean net and hit a wobbling puck over the shoulder of Jongju Park to open the scoring. Right from the rip Norway dominated finishing the match with a score of 8-0. After the game all Norway had left to do was await the result of France.

France ended up dropping their second game of the tournament finishing with 10 points, Norway with 12 resulting in gold and promotion to the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.

“Winning with Team Norway has been a dream of mine since I made the team. We have worked extremely hard for many years, and it finally paid off! I am extremely grateful and overly excited about finally moving up to the top division! It was a team effort and it wouldn’t be possible without everyone working towards the same goal! Playing for your own country is always special and winning gold in the Division IA is something I will never forget. It’s an achievement I set very high in my career!” Bergesen said following the tournament.

After 27 years Norway finally finds itself back in the top level. They haven’t participated in the major tournament since 1997.

Emma Bergesen  2024 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship (Division I, Group A) Stats: