Sometimes, life has ways of signaling to us that we are in the right place. For Minnesota Frost forward Sam Cogan, she got one of those signs in her first game in Sweden after an offseason move to SDE in Stockholm.
In her first game for SDE, Cogan scored a hat trick.
“Yeah, my first game, I went out there and got a hat trick, and I was pretty thrilled about that,” Sam Cogan recently told The Ice Garden. “Just to get on the scoreboard right away, it kind of takes a little bit of the pressure off of you. I went to Sweden with a real hunger in me to prove myself and to just get back to the point of hockey of just having fun and enjoying it. I was really happy with how my season went, and I had a lot of fun being out there.”
Ups and downs
Sam Cogan had a decorated college career at the University of Wisconsin. She scored over 100 points in her Badger career and won an NCAA championship with the Badgers in 2019.
After college, Cogan spent some time in the PWHPA. She also had a short stint playing for Shenzhen KRS in Russia in the 2020-2021 season. Cogan wasn’t with Shenzhen KRS long, but the experience was memorable.
“It was really cool. They took really good care of us. I only went for a couple of months, so I feel like I got everything I wanted out of that experience,” Cogan said.
Cogan’s first stint in the PWHL
Surprisingly, Cogan went undrafted in the 2023 PWHL draft. She later signed with Toronto as a free agent. She played in all 23 games for Toronto in that inaugural PWHL season. Cogan was a part of the Toronto team that was upset by the Frost in the first round of the playoffs. She scored two points, both goals, in 28 total games.
“The first year that the PWHL came out, I didn’t really have the best year of hockey for myself. I had higher expectations for myself than what I was able to do. The second year, I got put on the reserve list for Toronto, which anybody who’s been a reserve [player] knows is a tough position to be in. They were a couple of years of hockey that weren’t the best for me,” Cogan said.
As a reserve player during the 2024-2025 season, Cogan didn’t play in a game for Toronto.
“Going into the third year of the league, I was like, I don’t know what I want to do. Do I go try out for a team and maybe get a reserve spot again? Or what other options do I have here to be able to play the game I love and have fun and just build back on the confidence.”
Finding a new home
In search of a fresh start, Cogan reached out to a former teammate who helped her chart a new path and find her home in Sweden at SDE.
“I ended up reaching out to an old teammate and friend, Kassidy Sauvé, and I was like, hey, what have you been up to? I know you’re still playing, but where are you? Is there any room on your team where you’re at?” Cogan said. “She told me she was going to Sweden to play for SDE, and she told me about how great the program was out there and how great the coach is, Peter [Elander]. I was fortunate enough that she let Peter know about me, and he ended up reaching out right away,” Cogan said.
“We had a phone conversation, and he seemed like a great guy. He is a great guy, and he offered me to come out there and play in Sweden. And I was like, you know what, this will be a really good experience and opportunity for me to play hockey, and go overseas and have that travel experience as well. So I ended up taking that spot with SDE, and it was one of the most fun times of my life.”
Peter Elander and SDE
Cogan’s intuition from that initial phone call with Peter Elander was correct. Elander’s CV is extensive. It includes nine seasons leading the Swedish national team, including a silver medal at the 2006 Olympic Games. He also spent seven years at the University of North Dakota. Before taking over at SDE, Elander was also an associate head coach at the Ohio State University.
Elander took over as head coach of SDE in 2024. SDE first earned promotion to Sweden’s top league in 2014, but they were perennially on the brink of relegation in their early days in the SDHL. SDE had never finished higher than 5th before Elander took over. After a sixth-place finish in his first season in charge, Elander led SDE to 19 wins and a fourth-place finish in the SDHL this past season.
“He’s [Peter Elander] a super personable guy, really easy to talk to, and he’s all about just working hard. I really have so much respect for Peter, loving him as a coach and a person.”
Making the most of her opportunity
Cogan hit the ground running at SDE. “He [Peter Elander] had this saying, which was dare to play. And that really stuck with me,” Cogan said. “From the first day he said it, you know what? Go out there and dare to play. He said, we’re all humans. We’re going to make mistakes. But you’ve got to take those risks and chances and let the cards fold how they’re going to fold. Yeah, you’re going to make a mistake as a hockey player, and that’s just natural. You don’t have to grip your stick too tight, just go out there and dare to play.”
Cogan took Elander’s saying to heart and thrived on the ice for SDE. Cogan scored 16 goals and 39 points in 33 regular-season games. She finished the regular season as the sixth-highest scorer in the SDHL. She added six more points in eight playoff games.
For Cogan, it was more than just the points that helped her build back her confidence in herself as a player.
“I think my teammates [at SDE] definitely helped me feel confident in myself, just having conversations with them and then also the GM and the coaching staff,” Cogan said. “They were like, we want you, and we appreciate you, and we like having you here. You’re a great hockey player. They were feeding me things, and I started telling myself that, and then it was like okay, I am a good hockey player, I can play the game, and I do enjoy it.”
Cogan’s return to the PWHL with the Frost
Sam Cogan’s strong season in Sweden did not go unnoticed by PWHL teams. Cogan signed a reserve player contract with the Minnesota Frost on March 26th, just days before the trade deadline.
“Yeah, it’s actually been a really great transition. Everybody’s been super kind, friendly, and chill,” Cogan said. “When I came over from Sweden, they let me go home to Ottawa for a couple of days just to reset, drop my stuff off, and then head over to Minnesota. So that was just a nice reset for me. And then everybody was super welcoming. It’s been really good here. I’ve really enjoyed it.”’
Cogan has played in six games for the Frost since being acquired. Usually playing in a bottom-six role, Cogan is a smart, physical forward with plenty of skill to make defenses pay for the turnovers she creates. She’s hard on the forcheck and smart in her own zone. She had a season high of 11:20 minutes of ice time in the Frost’s penultimate game against Seattle.
Though she’s settled in nicely already for the Frost, Cogan is still getting comfortable with the transition back to the PWHL and a smaller ice sheet. “In Sweden, it’s Olympic size, and here it’s NHL size. So everything’s just happening a little bit quicker,” Cogan said. “You just need to make your decisions a little bit quicker because it’s a smaller rink, so it’s fewer steps to get places. But it’s just a different game, just because of that factor. I think that has just been an adjustment for me.”
Cogan and the Frost’s playoff push
Now settled in Minnesota, Cogan is ready to help the Frost chase a third consecutive Walter Cup title.
“A really big thing for me has just been enjoying the moment and having fun and just loving the game,” Cogan said. “Going out there and just trying not to overthink things or grip my stick too much. Just going out there and working hard, and being hard on every puck. That’s kind of like the mantra I’ve had all year; hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. That’s one thing I want to try to be consistent with going into these next games.”
The Minnesota Frost begin the Walter Cup playoffs on Saturday, May 2nd, against the Montreal Victoire