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Jenni Hiirikoski

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Jenni Hiirikoski
Hiirikoski (center) representing Finland at the 2011 IIHF World Championship
Born (1987-03-30) 30 March 1987 (age 37)
Lempäälä, Finland
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight 62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Left
SDHL team
Former teams		 Luleå HF/MSSK
National team  Finland
Playing career 2001–present
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Vancouver Ice hockey
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Pyeongchang Ice hockey
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Beijing Ice hockey
World Championship
Silver medal – second place 2019 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Canada
Bronze medal – third place 2008 China
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Switzerland
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 2017 United States
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Canada
Bronze medal – third place 2024 United States

Jenni Hiirikoski (born 30 March 1987) is a Finnish ice hockey player and captain of the Finnish national team and Luleå HF/MSSK in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL).[1]

She is widely considered one of the best active ice hockey defensemen in the world, having won the IIHF Directorate Best Defenceman award seven times during the 2010s.[2][3][4] She is currently the second all-time leading scorer among SDHL defenders and the third all-time leading scorer for Luleå, winning three SDHL championships with the club, has been named SDHL Defender of the Year twice, and is one of only two players to have been named top Olympic defender twice.[5]

Playing career

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Hiirikoski grew up in Lempäälä, Finland, and played youth ice hockey with the local club Lempäälän Kisa (LeKi). She began her premier league career in 2001, at age 14, with the Tampereen Ilves Naiset of the Naisten SM-sarja (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017). With Ilves, she won the Finnish Championship in 2006 and the Finnish Championship silver (runner-up) medals in 2004 and 2005.

After achieving Finnish Championship gold with Ilves, Hiirikoski joined the 2006–07 Espoo Blues, which had a roster overflowing with talent; in addition to Hiirikoski, the team included Karoliina Rantamäki, Noora Räty, Emma Terho, Marjo Voutilainen and other all-stars of the Finnish national team. With so much accumulated skill, it was no surprise when Espoo Blues claimed the Finnish Championship in 2007.

Hiirikoski returned to Ilves for the 2007–08 season and won her third Finnish Championship silver medal with them in 2008.

For the 2008–09 season, Hiirikoski joined her first club outside of Finland, signing with SKIF Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Women's Hockey League (replaced by the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) in 2015). The roster included two other Finns, her teammates from the Espoo Blues Karoliina Rantamäki and Marjo Voutilainen. SKIF was dominant and won both the Russian Championship and the 2009 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup.[6]

In June 2016, she announced that she was moving to Sweden to sign with Luleå HF/MSSK as the club prepared to defend their SDHL championship.[7] She scored 45 points in 36 games in her debut SDHL season, the league's leading scorer among defenders and fourth overall, serving as an assistant captain for the team. She added another 4 points in four playoff games as Luleå was eliminated in the semi-finals by HV71.

She was named Luleå captain ahead of the 2017–18 season.

After going without a point in her first twelve games of the 2019–20 season, despite leading the league in shots, she finished the season with 40 points in 34 games. Luleå would make it to the playoff finals before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden.[8]

She was nominated for Luleå resident of the year in 2019.[9] She was named the eighth best women's hockey player of the decade by The Hockey News in December 2019, with the magazine stating that it was possible to "make a case that she’s been the most criminally underrated player of the decade and maybe in women’s hockey history."[10] Both she and Ronja Savolainen were nominated for the 2019–20 SDHL Best Defender Award, though the award ultimately went to Sidney Morin of HV71.[11]

Style of play

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Hiirikoski's speed, on-ice awareness, and passing ability have drawing comparisons to Erik Karlsson at the height of his career.[12]

International career

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Hiirikoski made her debut with the Finnish national team at age 17 in the 2004 IIHF Women's World Championship (her birthday coincided with the first day of the tournament) and has appeared in every major international tournament since. She has served as team captain continuously since the 2011–12 season.

Representing Finland, she has won three Olympic bronze medals: at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She also competed with the Finnish national team in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, at which Finland placed fifth.

As of 2024, Hiirikoski has participated in fifteen IIHF Women's World Championships, winning a silver medal at the tournament in 2019 and eight bronze medals, at the tournaments in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2021, and 2024.

She was involved in the controversial no-goal call in overtime of the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship gold-medal game, which cost Finland the victory after the goal scored by Finland’s Petra Nieminen was waved off because Hiirikoski had made contact with American goaltender Alex Cavallini outside of the crease.[13]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2001–02 Ilves NSMs 8 2 2 4 2 8 0 2 2 14
2002–03 Ilves NSMs 23 6 3 9 6 6 3 0 3 2
2003–04 Ilves NSMs 24 6 11 17 14 7 1 3 4 2
2004–05 Ilves NSMs 20 3 17 20 10 5 2 0 2 0
2005–06 Ilves NSMs 15 0 7 7 18 7 2 0 2 14
2006–07 Espoo Blues NSMs 22 8 16 24 20 7 1 3 4 2
2007–08 Ilves NSMs 19 8 21 29 12 8 2 6 8 6
2008–09 SKIF RWHL 13 8 5 13 10 – – – – –
2009–10 Ilves NSMs 19 4 39 43 6 11 4 7 11 4
2010–11 JYP NSMs 18 4 12 16 28 3 0 0 0 0
2011–12 JYP RWHL 26 8 17 25 16 – – – – –
2011–12 JYP NSMs 8 3 12 15 4 – – – – –
2012–13 JYP NSMs 28 19 18 37 12 8 2 6 8 10
2013–14 JYP NSMs 25 20 26 46 12 8 3 8 11 4
2014–15 JYP NSMs 28 18 43 61 10 7 1 7 8 4
2015–16 JYP NSMs 28 17 62 79 8 6 3 9 12 2
2016–17 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 36 12 33 45 28 4 2 2 4 4
2017–18 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 36 22 33 55 18 7 1 3 4 0
2018–19 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 34 19 44 63 36 11 4 10 14 4
2019–20 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 34 12 28 40 20 6 1 4 5 2
2020–21 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 34 9 38 47 12 9 3 6 9 4
2021–22 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 34 11 34 45 14 12 1 7 8 0
2022–23 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 31 5 32 37 15 7 1 5 6 4
2023–24 Luleå/MSSK SDHL 36 9 24 33 4 9 2 6 8 0
Naisten SM-sarja totals 285 118 289 407 162 91 24 51 75 64
SDHL totals 275 99 266 365 147 65 15 43 58 18

International

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Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2004 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 0 0 0 0
2005 Finland WC 4th 5 1 0 1 4
2007 Finland WC 4th 5 0 1 1 8
2008 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 1 2 3 4
2009 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 1 2 3 2
2010 Finland OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5 0 2 2 4
2011 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 0 2 2 2
2012 Finland WC 4th 6 0 5 5 2
2013 Finland WC 4th 6 0 1 1 2
2014 Finland OG 5th 6 3 2 5 2
2015 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 2 2 4 4
2016 Finland WC 4th 6 1 3 4 2
2017 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 3 2 5 2
2018 Finland OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 0 2 2 2
2019 Finland WC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 2 8 10 0
2021 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 0 3 3 0
2022 Finland OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 0 5 5 4
2022 Finland WC 6th 7 0 1 1 4
2023 Finland WC 5th 7 3 8 11 2
2024 Finland WC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 1 5 6 4
120 18 56 74 54

Sources: [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Honors and achievements

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Award / Honour Year
International
World Championship Bronze Medal 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2024
World Championship Top 3 Player on Team 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021
World Championship Best Defenceman 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
Olympic Bronze Medal 2010, 2018, 2022
Olympic All-Star Team 2014, 2018, 2022
Olympic Best Defenceman 2014, 2018
World Championship All-Star Team 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
World Championship Silver Medal 2019
World Championship MVP 2019
Naisten SM-sarja
Aurora Borealis Cup Champion 2006, 2007, 2010, 2016
Naisten SM-sarja All-Star First Team 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Päivi Halonen Award (Defenseman of the Year) 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Riikka Nieminen Award (Player of the Year) 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Marianne Ihalainen Award (Most points) 2016
SDHL
SDHL Champion 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
SDHL Defenseman of the Year 2018, 2019
SDHL Playoffs MVP 2018, 2019
Other
European Women's Champions Cup Best Defenceman 2009

References

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  1. ^ "Athlete Profile: Jenni Hiirikoski, Ice Hockey". Vancouver2010.com. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. 2010. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  2. ^ Murphy, Mike; Foster, Meredith (14 October 2018). "Jenni Hiirikoski is the Best Defender in the World". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  3. ^ Oliver, Nathaniel (5 September 2018). "Jenni Hiirikoski Goes One-On-One & Shares Some Fun Facts". The Hockey Writers. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  4. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (1 January 2020). "Top women's hockey moments of the 2010s". International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  5. ^ ""När jag var ung ville jag också komma till NHL"". HockeySverige (in Swedish). 11 September 2019. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Championnat de Russie de hockey sur glace féminin 2009/10". hockeyarchives.info (in French). Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  7. ^ Lillhannus, Andreas (28 June 2016). "Världens bästa back klar för Luleå". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  8. ^ Murphy, Mike (16 September 2020). "Dam Good: Lulea's Jenni Hiirikoski starts off scoring". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  9. ^ Dahlén, Johanna (9 September 2019). ""En ära att sätta på mig tröjan varje år"". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  10. ^ Clinton, Jared (24 December 2019). "The 10 best women's players of the decade". The Hockey News at Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  11. ^ Kågström, Rasmus (20 May 2020). "De kan prisas som säsongens back i SDHL". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  12. ^ Rönnkvist, Ronnie (20 January 2017). "De är världens bästa damspelare: "En Erik Karlsson-kopia"". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Overturned overtime goal helps United States beat Finland for gold". The Toronto Star. 14 April 2019. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  15. ^ "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  17. ^ "Women's Play-offs Semifinals : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  18. ^ "Women's Bronze Medal Game : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  19. ^ Podnieks, Andrew; Nordmark, Birger, eds. (2019). "Active Skaters, Women". IIHF Guide & Record Book 2020. Toronto: Moydart. p. 648. ISBN 9780986796470.
  20. ^ "Player Profile: Jenni Hiirikoski". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  21. ^ "2023 IIHF Women's World Championship – Player Statistics by Team: FIN - Finland". International Ice Hockey Federation. 16 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
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