Fans of The Bachelor will remember Haley Ferguson and her twin sister, Emily, who competed for Ben Higgins' heart back in 2016. After being eliminated in weeks four and seven, the sisters tried their luck on multiple seasons of Bachelor In Paradise, but ultimately didn't find love on the show. The sisters eventually found love with professional hockey players, William Karlsson and Oula Palve, with Emily and William announcing their engagement late last year.
Now, five months later, Haley is joining her sister in wedding planning. The couple had been discussing getting engaged this summer, but Oula decided to surprise Haley sooner rather than later. After spending more than a year together, he popped the question during an intimate proposal in the twin's home town of Las Vegas, Nevada. But what do we know about Haley's new fiancé and their relationship?
The Finnish-born hockey player grew up playing for Palokan Kiekko and has continued to play for a number of teams since making his professional debut during in 2011. After going undrafted in the NHL, Oula joined Finnish team, JYP, in 2012 and the team finished the season ranked third in the Finnish Elite League. Since then, Oula has continued to play in Europe and the US, playing for multiple Finnish teams, setting career bests during the 2018-2019 season and ranking at the top of the Mestis league during the 2015-2016 season with back-to-back championships in 2015 and 2016.
In 2019, Oula signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a free agent, and following his first training camp, was assigned to their affiliate team, The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (via NHL). The forward struggled offensively with the team, though, and was traded to the Dallas Star's affiliate team before the end of his contract with the Penguins. Oula played the remainder of the season with the Texas Stars, but it was cut short due to the pandemic, allowing him to opt to return to Europe, signing a deal with Swedish club, Linköping HC, of the Swedish Hockey League in April 2020.
Between Oula's time with the Texas Stars and his current team, Haley reached out to him after her twin, Emily, found him on Instagram and persuaded her to message him. Since then, the pair have been inseparable, spending three and a half months quarantining together before he moved to Sweden in June 2020. Haley has since joined him overseas, moving in November after waiting for the travel ban to be lifted. Haley has also shared that her life has changed drastically since meeting him and that he is the kindest, most thoughtful person, while Emily has stated that they balance each other out and that Oula always puts her sister first. Along with initially setting them up, Haley also credits Emily with changing her views on dating athletes after seeing her relationship with her fiancé, William Karlsson.
As for wedding plans, the twins plan on having joint bachelorette parties and bridal showers, but have different wedding dates in mind. Because of Oula's schedule, he and Haley only have a few months to pick a date from, but already have a potential venue in mind for their big day. The sisters also aren't the only season 20 alums in the midst of wedding planning. The season's lead, Ben Higgins, proposed to girlfriend Jessica Clarke in March 2020, while Calia Quinn and her fiancé, Nick Burrello, have changed their plans for a destination wedding in Italy to a stateside wedding in Sarasota, Florida this month.
Source: Instagram/Oula Palve, NHL