Sandra Abstreiter

Sandra Abstreiter grew up in Freising, Germany — a country where, as she has noted, ice is hard to come by in the summer. That backdrop makes her path to the PWHL and the Olympic stage all the more striking: she didn't start playing goal until she was fifteen or sixteen years old, and she was largely self-taught, learning by watching video online before eventually playing college hockey at Providence.

At Providence, Abstreiter's final NCAA season ended with the Friars qualifying for the 2021 NCAA National Tournament. She started in the quarterfinals against the University of Wisconsin Badgers — the eventual national champions — and made 41 saves in a 3-0 loss. Earlier in her career, she was part of the German U18 team that claimed a silver medal at the 2015-16 U18 Women's World Championship.

On the senior national team, Abstreiter has appeared at four Women's World Championships (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). At the 2024 edition, she was named Top Goaltender after posting a .929 save percentage with one shutout over six games. Germany has since qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics — the program's first Olympic appearance since Sochi in 2014 — an achievement Abstreiter described on InGoal Radio as "the most exciting thing I think I've ever been part of." ^[1]

Abstreiter joined the PWHL with the Montreal Victoire and wore number 30. In her first two seasons, she appeared in approximately two games in total while training alongside goaltenders including Anne-Renee Desbiens. She spent the summer before her third season in Vancouver for nearly two months, prioritizing ice time she couldn't get at home in Germany, with the Olympic year and her own development in mind.

On the InGoal Radio podcast, Abstreiter appeared in a January 2025 episode alongside fellow PWHL goaltender Carly Jackson ^[2], and returned for a solo conversation in November 2025 ^[1] — the latter covering her off-season training approach, her evolving technical toolkit, and how she thinks about competing at the highest level. InGoal contributor Colin Hodd drew on that podcast conversation for a Pro Read available to InGoal subscribers, examining her preparation for the Olympics and the PWHL season, her mindset around pressure, and the goaltending exchange she shares with her five practice partners ^[3].

In that piece and on the podcast, Abstreiter described her philosophy simply: "My big thing is that hockey is just hockey. A practice, a game, national team, your club, whatever it is, it's still just hockey. And I love hockey." ^[1]

InGoal Magazine has covered Sandra Abstreiter in two podcast appearances and one InGoal article.