Riikka Sallinen

Hanna-Riikka Sallinen, née Nieminen, previously Välilä, (born 12 June 1973) is a Finnish retired ice hockey, bandy, rink bandy, and pesäpallo player. She is known as one of the most highly decorated and respected players to have ever competed in international women's ice hockey. She currently serves as assistant coach to HV71 Dam, the SDHL club that she captained in the 2018–19 season.

Sallinen played sixteen seasons with the Finnish national ice hockey team and earned two Olympic bronze medals, one World Championship silver and six bronze medals, and three European Championship gold medals. In 2007, Sallinen was one of the first two women inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame, along with defenceman Marianne Ihalainen. She was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame on 21 May 2010 in Cologne, Germany as part of the World Championship festivities; she was only the fourth woman to receive this honor.

Sallinen's bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang made her the oldest player to ever win an Olympic medal in ice hockey. She was awarded the medal at age 44, 20 years after she first won a medal in the inaugural women's Olympic hockey tournament.

Sallinen announced her retirement from competition in April 2019, at age 46, shortly after achieving silver at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship.

Career

Sallinen was a five time Finnish Champion of the Naisten SM-sarja, in 1988-89 with Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU), in 1993-94 with the Keravan Shakers, and in 1996-97, 1997-98, and 2015-16 with JYP Jyväskylä.

International play

Riikka Sallinen represented Finland at three IIHF Women's European Championships, eight IIHF World Women's Championships, and four Olympics. She made her international debut at the 1989 Women's European Championship. In her first Olympics in 1998 she led the tournament in scoring, amassing 12 points (7 goals & 5 assists) in six games and leading the Finnish team to the bronze medal. Sallinen would also lead the Finnish national team to three European Championship titles and six IIHF World Women's Championship bronze medals and one silver.

Over her international career she would score 109 goals, 95 assists for 204 points while accumulating only 24 PIMs.

In August 2013, the IIHF reported that she was attempting a comeback and in December 2013, following several matches in the Naisten SM-sarja, she was selected for the Finnish women's team for the Sochi Olympics. She made the Finnish Olympic team again for the 2018 Olympics, helping Finland to a bronze medal.

Awards and honours