Better Halves
Introduced in 2003, players’ wives and girlfriends team up to assist the Griffins in their community endeavors. For example, in 2011-12, the Better Halves sold bracelets to help raise money for the families who lost loved ones in the tragic Russian plane crash on Sept. 7, 2011 that claimed the lives of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, including former Griffins players Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek and Stefan Liv. Throughout the 2024-25 season, we will be highlighting the wives and girlfriends to give them the opportunity to share their stories. Be on the lookout for the better halves out in the community once again this year.
Amanda Lagesson
Get to know Amanda Lagesson, William Lagesson's wife, in our first Better Halves spotlight of the season. Amanda and William met during their time at UMass and have been together for nearly 10 years. She shares some stories about growing up in a hockey family, what it is like to be a boy mom, what she does in her free time, and so much more.
Give us your backstory. Where you’re from, childhood, hobbies, etc.
My backstory is kind of long and complicated. I'm American but everyone thinks I’m Swedish because of Will. I was born in New Jersey, but I lived in Calgary until I was five. Then I moved back to New Jersey, but then I've spent every summer in Sweden. So, that's why I'm a dual citizen and can speak Swedish because both of my parents are from Stockholm. My dad played hockey as well. So, I've literally been living hockey life since I was born, and it has not stopped. I went to school in the States and studied journalism at UMass. That is where I met Will. I love to write, love to listen to podcasts, and love to travel. We try to travel every summer when we're home, just because it's so easy traveling from Sweden to other places in Europe. I also secretly love interior design. I feel like that might be my thing once Will's done with his career and I can kind of focus on my own thing. I have a brother that is five years older, and he lives back home in Sweden. He played [hockey] until college, but once he graduated college, he started working for the Lightning as one of the video coaches. He then decided that Florida was not for him and moved back home to Sweden to the cold. Now, he has been working for the Swedish women's national team as their video coach. Everyone in my family revolves around sports constantly.
We saw on social media that you and William met during college. How exactly did you guys meet and what do you remember most about your time together early on?
Oh gosh, this was so long ago and now we’re going on 10 years. It’s been crazy. We met because I had some friends who went out partying with the hockey team. One of my friends was like ‘there's this really nice Swedish guy’ and I don't have a lot of Swedish friends. All my Swedish friends that I have are back home in Sweden. So, I followed him on Instagram and then he messaged me on Facebook. Then we just started talking for quite a bit, got really close and then started hanging out. We have been with each other ever since.
You have a son named Loui and another boy on the way. How special has being a parent been? What do you love most about that experience?
It's so fun because I always knew I wanted to be a mom. If someone asked me about my career plans, I always would be unsure of what I wanted to do. But I always knew that I wanted to be a mom because I love kids. Even during Will's earlier years playing pro, when we would move around a lot, I would just try to nanny in every city just because it was easy money and I love kids. It's been really special, especially being a hockey kid myself and growing up in this world. I can kind of live through it through Loui now. It's really special and it'll be really fun with the next little guy, too. I know Will's just ecstatic about two boys because it's just sports, sports, sports. I always have felt like I'm a boy mom just because I was such a tomboy when I was younger. So, I’m good. I’m happy with it. I'm done after this one, though. He's like ‘are you going to go for the girl?’, and I’m like ‘nope’.
How has having Loui changed your hockey life? How special is it to see Loui interact with William during games and in the locker room, and having tons of additional aunts and uncles in the hockey world?
It makes everything more fun. We've been together for almost 10 years now, so it's a lot of hockey games through that. Now, it's fun in a different way. I wouldn't go to warm ups usually, but now it's the highlight of my game, because it's so fun to see [Will and Loui] interact at the glass together. It's just exciting to see that he gets so excited to go and watch dad play. I know when I was younger, I was my dad's number one fan, like crazy screaming every game. So, it's pretty fun and a little bit nostalgic, I guess. Loui stands up in the stands during games and he's like, ‘Dad missed’ or ‘he scored’. Last year he didn't really care. He just wanted to play with Cooper and eat snacks. Now, he’s clapping and cheering and saying ‘let's go Griffins’ and stuff like that. I think he gets it more, which again just makes it more fun that he knows what's going on.
With all the wives and little kids part of the team this year, how special has that been to make those relationships with other families?
It's been great because I remember when I was first pregnant with Loui, I was the only person with a kid on the team. It kind of felt lonely in that sense. Now, it's been so great because the kids interact and play with each other during intermissions. You kind of click with other moms automatically because this life can be so hectic and so crazy sometimes. You kind of get friends outside of the rink automatically so the kids can play together. So, that's been really nice, actually.
We also saw on social media that your gender reveals have had to do with Swedish blue candies. What is the significance of those candies or is there a backstory on why the candies?
Well, first of all, Swedish candy is the best candy. When I was pregnant with Loui, Will really wanted to surprise me with the gender. Will's a really good chef, which I know some people are like, ‘really?’. He's really good in the kitchen. So, he made one of those chocolate globes that you can melt with fudge and filled it with blue candies. So this time, I wanted to surprise him. I thought that we'll just keep the candy thing going. We're not big celebration people and wanted to keep it simple. So yeah, I thought that I’d give it back to him with some blue candies.
Your dad, Tommy Albelin, was a long-time NHL player and also a coach in the NHL, so you’ve been around hockey and the busy lifestyle your whole life. Did that prepare you to deal with being a wife of a professional player? Have you noticed any differences between a daughter of a hockey player compared to a wife?
Some ways yes, some ways no. I would say yes because I don't know anything else. This is literally all that I know is hockey season, off season, and moving around. It's different when you're a daughter to a player and you're going to school and don't really know everything. Now that I'm a wife to a player, I kind of understand what struggles my mom went through and like why she would kind of lose her cool sometimes. I'm like, ‘yeah I get it now’, because I go insane when we're moving every handful of months. It's definitely prepared me in the sense that I'm not shocked by trades or waivers or moving around. It's pretty standard for me. I think it's going to be a shock for me when Will retires and we're in our home base and we're not going to move. That's when I think I'm going to be like, ‘what are we doing?’. If I'm ever struggling or having a bad day, I just call my mom, too. She's great to vent to. I didn't move around that much when I was younger. But I have friends that I still keep in touch with from when I was a hockey kid and they'd moved around like six or seven times, changing schools and stuff. So, I got pretty lucky in that sense. It's just a little different when you're the wife and you kind of have to be the one that rallies all the troops. We've moved so many times now. I think this is our 8th or 9th city that we've lived in. We had two seasons in a row where we got traded twice. So, that's been a little different. When you're a kid, you just kind of go with it. Now, I’m the one organizing everything.
We were in New Jersey for a long time and then after [my dad] retired, he kept working for the Devils. My parents still have a house in New Jersey and that's kind of been my other home base. When you're a kid, it's fun to go to games and play with the other kids. When you're a wife, it's a little bit more being the person who pieces the puzzle together.
You’ve been part of our family skate and also participated in the Stadium Series last year. Can you touch on the significance of taking part in those cool events?
It's always so fun because you never know if you're going to end up on a team that has something like that planned. I know when Will played in Toronto, they had the Global Series where he got to go home to Sweden. That was really special for Will to be able to play an NHL game back in Sweden. All his friends and all his family came because usually over here we don't get a lot of visitors. So, that was special. Last year was really cool because it's just such a different atmosphere and everything just feels so grand, big and fun. We've been lucky to have been part of a lot of those kind of moments throughout his career, which is really awesome.
You started your TikTok back in 2022, showing behind the scenes of hockey life from a family perspective. Constantly having your partner gone for long periods of time can be difficult, but in your content, you have highlighted these moments as being special and having a positive outlook on it. Can you talk about those moments?
You kind of need to have some humor and that's what I try to do. It can get pretty lonely sometimes. So, I've tried to be one of those funny hockey wife TikTokers, but I'm slacking lately. I really like social media a lot. I feel like ever since Instagram started being a thing, I've always tried to post things and like pictures. It's kind of like a fun, creative outlet. It's not so serious and it’s fun to just throw up a little video.
What are some of your favorite things to do by yourself and with Loui while William is on the road?
I actually love the Children's Museum in GR, it’s really great. Will is a health freak and I'm not. I like my snacks, my Cokes and my goodies. But when he's home, we try to keep it pretty healthy. So, my favorite thing to do with Loui when [Will’s] gone is go on our treat dates or get ice cream or have a movie night with buttery popcorn. That's pretty much what I look forward to.
We’ve seen videos of William’s cooking skills. How did that come about? What are some of your favorite things he makes?
[Will’s] dad is a really good cook as well. He's a big hunter. So, he usually hunts back home in Sweden and then he will filet his dead animals. It's mostly moose, deer, stuff like that. So, I think Will kind of just took that on from him. Will thinks it’s really fun and it pretty therapeutic for him. I'm not complaining, I love it. We do octopus or he'll do like a three-course meal. It makes it fun for me because I like to eat, especially now that I'm pregnant. It's kind of like his hobby off the ice. He makes a really good beef bourguignon and a really good grilled octopus. Also, anything on the grill is very good, too.
Can you talk about your hobby of renovating and decorating? We saw that you recently moved into a new home in Sweden and have loved making it your own.
My mom has been a stay-at-home mom throughout my dad's career and decorating kind of became her hobby and creative outlet. I just call her Martha Stewart because she can cook, knows how to interior design and decorate. So, I think I just got that from her. I think the older I get, the more you become boring and you love furniture now. It kind of brings [me and my mom] together, too. We've moved into our home in Sweden, which is most likely going to be our forever home. It's been so fun to bounce ideas with her because we have the same style, and she'll help me out and find vintage pieces. Sometimes I'll wake up to text messages, saying ‘these chairs are on marketplace, you need to buy them.’ Especially with hockey season, it's kind of hard when you move around all the time to feel at home in a place that you're renting. So, that's the biggest thing for me is getting in here and making everything feel more like home. I know when Will was gone in Detroit last season, we stayed in Grand Rapids and we visited him back and forth in the hotel. It's super important for me to be able to come home and feel at peace and calm.
What are you most excited about for your future?
Oh, that's a good one. That's tough. Now, I'm most excited about the new baby coming. My living room is going to become a WWE wrestling match. With Will a vet now, I think it'll be exciting to see where we end up or how life will look when we're done with North America. I know Will will probably want to end his career back home in some sense with his home team. I look forward to seeing him represent his home city and being able to actually watch games with his friends and family in attendance. I say I'm excited for stuff and then our future changes every single year.
Any fun facts about Laggy that you could share with us?
Well, when we first started dating in college, his English was not great. Now, he thinks that he doesn't have an accent and nobody can tell he's from Europe. And I'm like, ‘right.’ He would just always say funny things like vacuum was vacuoom. Instead of saying knock on wood, he would say ‘knock on tree’ and I'm like ‘that's not it’. The guy can dance. He's a very good dancer, especially after a couple of drinks. He still doesn't know how to change diapers. He avoids that. It could be the smallest poo diaper and he's grossed out by it. Other than that, he's a great dad, but diapers are not his specialty at all. He’s very into watching Swedish political debates for some reason. He's very smart with investing and really good with his money. He loves card tricks and has probably seen every single America's Got Talent magic video audition that is on YouTube. He's also really good at beatboxing and playing the guitar and piano.