Finnish ice hockey player
Ice hockey player
Viivi Vainikka (born 23 December 2001) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team , currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (Swedish : Svenska damhockeyligan ; SDHL) with Luleå HF/MSSK .[1]
Playing career
Vainikka began playing hockey at the age of five.[2] She made her debut in the Naisten Liiga , the top flight of Finnish women's hockey at the age of 15 with Team Kuortane . Across four years with the team, she scored 129 points in 112 games. After scoring a career-best 52 points in 30 games in the 2018–19 season, including 28 goals , she won the Emma Laaksonen Award for fair play.
She left Finland to sign a two-year contract with Luleå HF/MSSK in Sweden ahead of the 2020–21 SDHL season , joining the roster with the highest concentration of Finnish national team players in the world, Finland included.[3] She scored twice in her first two SDHL games.[4] In November 2020, along with four other Finnish national team and Luleå teammates, she was forced to miss several SDHL games while being quarantined under Finnish law after a national team camp where a player tested positive for COVID-19 .[5]
International
Vainikka won silver with the Finnish national team at the 2019 Women's World Championship .[6] [7] She was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, prior to the cancellation of the tournament International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic .[8] [9]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Year
Team
Event
Result
GP
G
A
Pts
PIM
2017
Finland U18
WW18
5
3
0
0
0
0
2018
Finland U18
WW18
5
5
2
2
4
0
2019
Finland U18
WW18
6
2
4
6
2
2019
Finland
WW
7
1
3
4
0
2021
Finland
WW
7
1
0
1
0
2022
Finland
OG
6
2
1
3
2
2022
Finland
WW
6th
7
2
2
4
0
2023
Finland
WW
5th
7
5
5
10
0
Junior totals
14
4
6
10
2
Senior totals
34
11
11
22
2
Sources: [10] [11]
Awards and honors
References
^ Nilsson, Jonathan (12 September 2020). " "Hon är som en storasyster för mig" " . Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2020 .
^ Foster, Meredith (17 January 2020). "Q&A with Team Kuortane's Viivi Vainikka" . The Ice Garden . Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
^ Nilsson, Jonathan (12 September 2020). " "Hon är som en storasyster för mig" " . Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
^ 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 12 November 2020 .
^ Kågström, Rasmus (9 November 2020). "Luleåstjärnorna fast i Finland – satta i karantän" . HockeySverige (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020 .
^ "Naisleijonien MM-joukkue yhtä vaille valmis – Kisojen alkuun kymmenen päivää" . leijonat.fi. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019 .
^ "2019 IIHF Women's World Championship roster" (PDF) . Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019 .
^ Malmberg, Henna (4 March 2020). "Naisleijonien MM-joukkue valittu – Sukupolven vaihdos tuo MM-joukkueeseen seitsemän ensikertalaista" . leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association . Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020 .
^ Steiss, Adam (7 March 2020). "Women's Worlds cancelled" . IIHF . Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020 .
^ Podnieks, Andrew; Nordmark, Birger, eds. (2019). "Active Skaters, Women". IIHF Guide & Record Book 2020 . Toronto: Moydart. p. 664. ISBN 9780986796470 .
^ "2023 IIHF Women's World Championship – Player Statistics by Team: FIN - Finland" . International Ice Hockey Federation . 16 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023 .
External links