Riikka Sallinen

Riikka Sallinen
Hockey Hall of Fame, 2022
Born (1973-06-12) 12 June 1973 (age 51)
Jyväskylä, Finland
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position Forward
Shot Right
Played for
Coached for HV71
National team  Finland
Playing career 1988–2003
2013–2019
Coaching career 2019–2021
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Pyeongchang Team
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Nagano Team
World Championship
Silver medal – second place 2019 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 2017 United States
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Canada
Bronze medal – third place 1994 United States
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 1990 Canada
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1989 West Germany
Gold medal – first place 1993 Denmark
Gold medal – first place 1995 Latvia

Hanna-Riikka Sallinen (née Nieminen, previously Välilä; born 12 June 1973) is a Finnish retired ice hockey, bandy, rinkball, and pesäpallo player.[1] She is one of the most highly decorated players to have ever competed in international ice hockey.[2][3]

Sallinen played sixteen seasons with the Finland women's 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 and the first European woman to receive this honor.[4] She is currently the leading all-time European scorer in World Championships and Olympics.

Sallinen's bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang made her the oldest player to ever win an Olympic medal in ice hockey, replacing her compatriot Teemu Selänne who set the record at the 2014 Winter Olympics after winning bronze in the men's ice hockey tournament at age 43. Sallinen was awarded the medal at age 44, twenty years after she first won an Olympic medal in the inaugural women's Olympic hockey tournament.[5]

In 2022 she became the ninth woman player named to the Hockey Hall of Fame;[6] she is the first woman not born in North America to be so honoured.[7]

  1. ^ Freijd, Johan (16 December 2019). "Riikka Sallinen ny assisterande tränare i HV71 Dam" [Riikka Sallinen new assistant coach to HV71 Dam] (in Swedish). HV71. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  2. ^ Foster, Meredith (15 June 2019). "Team Finland legend Riikka Sallinen retires". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  3. ^ Murphy, Mike (27 December 2019). "Making the case that Riikka Sallinen is the GOAT". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  4. ^ "IIHF Hall of Fame inducts six new members". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  5. ^ "Winter Olympics: Finland beat OAR 3–2 to claim women's ice hockey bronze". BBC. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Canuck icons Henrik, Daniel Sedin, Sens star Alfredsson lead 2022 Hockey Hall of Fame class". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. 27 June 2022. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson headline Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2022". Sportsnet. 27 June 2022. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.