Sandra Abstreiter

When Sandra Abstreiter stood in net for Providence during the 2021 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, she faced a University of Wisconsin team that would go on to win the national championship. She made 41 saves in a 3–0 loss — the kind of performance that closes one chapter and opens another.

Abstreiter was born on July 23, 1998, in Freising, Germany. She did not begin playing goal until she was 15 or 16 years old, coming to the position after playing defense. Much of her early development was self-directed: she studied YouTube footage not just of professional goaltenders but of players at all levels, reasoning that she could learn more from goalies she could relate to than from NHL stars alone. Carey Price was among those she watched. That self-taught foundation carried her from Germany to the NCAA and eventually to the professional game.

At Providence, she helped the Friars qualify for the 2021 NCAA National Tournament. Before her college career, she was part of the German under-18 program that won a silver medal at the 2015–16 U18 Women's World Championship.

She has represented Germany at four Women's World Championships — in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. At the 2024 edition, she was named Top Goaltender, posting a .929 save percentage and one shutout across six games. Germany also qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics, ending a run that stretches back to Sochi in 2014. Abstreiter described qualifying — rather than receiving an automatic berth — as making the achievement more meaningful: "It is even cooler that we did have to qualify and we did it. Because now, all of us that are most likely going to end up going to the Olympics, we did it for ourselves. We put the effort in, we got it done." ^[1]

Abstreiter joined the PWHL's Montréal Victoire and has worn number 30. Her first two seasons in Montreal brought limited game action — approximately two games in total across those years, by her own account — though she remained active in practice and continued to perform on the international stage. Heading into her third year, she has spoken openly about her goal of increasing her role with the Victoire.

In preparation for the 2025–26 PWHL season and the Olympics, Abstreiter spent nearly two months in Vancouver during the summer — a deliberate choice given the lack of summer ice access in Germany. She trained with friends and coaching contacts in the city, describing the trip as driven by a desire to be as prepared as possible for what she called the biggest year of her career. ^[1]

Her goaltending approach draws on multiple techniques — including overlap, VH, and RVH — and she has described her philosophy as choosing what feels right in the moment rather than defaulting to a single system. She has been incorporating the "Panda" movement into her game over time, treating her off-season as a space to test and refine techniques absorbed during the season. At Montréal, she trains alongside Anne-Renée Desbiens, and has spoken about the value of those exchanges: "It's a friendly exchange. It's never like, 'You're doing it wrong. You should do it how I am doing it.'" ^[1]

Abstreiter has also noted that she plans to pursue goaltending coaching after her playing career, citing experience working with younger goalies as something she has found rewarding.

With Germany's national team, she currently shares the ice with five goaltending partners across her club and international programs, all of whom, she has said, bring different styles and approaches to the position.

InGoal Magazine has covered Sandra Abstreiter in two podcast appearances and one InGoal article. On episode 286 of InGoal Radio, Abstreiter and fellow PWHL goaltender Carly Jackson joined the podcast for a conversation about life in the league ^[2]. Episode 327 went deeper into her summer preparation in Vancouver, her technical development — including work on the RVH and Panda techniques — her philosophy on practice-session mindset, and her goals heading into her third PWHL season and first Olympic Games ^[3]. Colin Hodd's piece for InGoal members examines her approach to preparation, inspiration, and the mental side of competing on the Olympic stage ^[1].