Riikka Sallinen during Finland’s historic semi-final win against Canada at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, one of her last games before her final retirement.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
She played for so long that she used three names and extended her career nearly from the start of the Women’s Worlds through the full 30-year history of the women’s came.
Riikka Nieminen-Valila-Sallinen was the first superstar of women’s hockey in Finland, and by the time she retired in 2019 she had set records for longevity that might never be broken.
Valila started her career as Riikka Nieminen, with Finland in 1990, and was one of the top scorers of the first Women’s Worlds that year. She scored eight goals in five games and led Finland to a bronze medal with two goals and an assist in a 6-3 win over Sweden.
Nieminen was a dominant player in the next three Women’s Worlds as well as the ’98 Olympics, scoring 30 goals in 26 games between 1990 and 1998. Not coincidentally, Finland won the bronze medal in every event.
After taking time off between Olympics, Nieminen returned for 2002 in Salt Lake and then retired. She had had a great career, and in 2007 she was one of two women to be inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame (alongside Marianne Ihalainen). Three years later, she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, the first European woman so honoured.
And that was that. Or so it seemed. The years passed and Nieminen got married and was happy in her private life, but in late 2013 she got the hockey itch again. She trained and attended Finland’s camp for the Olympics, and to her surprise she was still skilled and fit. The Hall of Famer made the team 12 years after her last appearance, playing as Riikka Valila, but the Finns finished a disappointing fifth.
That only motivated Valila more. Now into her early forties, she continued to play, helping Finland win bronze at the 2015 WW. When Suomi won bronze at the 2018 Olympics, she was 44 years old and was the oldest hockey player, male or female, ever to win a medal.
But that was only the second stage of her career!
Riikka returned to play in the 2019 Women’s Worlds as Riikka Sallinen, and although she was now 45 years old – the oldest participant ever in WW play – she helped the Finns to an unprecedented run to the gold medal game. The team lost in a heart-breaking shootout to the U.S., but Sallinen now had a silver medal to go with her combined eight bronze medals.
She retired last summer, perhaps for good?, but her story is as inspiring as it is spectacular.
Click here for the overview of stories.
Riikka Nieminen-Valila-Sallinen was the first superstar of women’s hockey in Finland, and by the time she retired in 2019 she had set records for longevity that might never be broken.
Valila started her career as Riikka Nieminen, with Finland in 1990, and was one of the top scorers of the first Women’s Worlds that year. She scored eight goals in five games and led Finland to a bronze medal with two goals and an assist in a 6-3 win over Sweden.
Nieminen was a dominant player in the next three Women’s Worlds as well as the ’98 Olympics, scoring 30 goals in 26 games between 1990 and 1998. Not coincidentally, Finland won the bronze medal in every event.
After taking time off between Olympics, Nieminen returned for 2002 in Salt Lake and then retired. She had had a great career, and in 2007 she was one of two women to be inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame (alongside Marianne Ihalainen). Three years later, she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, the first European woman so honoured.
And that was that. Or so it seemed. The years passed and Nieminen got married and was happy in her private life, but in late 2013 she got the hockey itch again. She trained and attended Finland’s camp for the Olympics, and to her surprise she was still skilled and fit. The Hall of Famer made the team 12 years after her last appearance, playing as Riikka Valila, but the Finns finished a disappointing fifth.
That only motivated Valila more. Now into her early forties, she continued to play, helping Finland win bronze at the 2015 WW. When Suomi won bronze at the 2018 Olympics, she was 44 years old and was the oldest hockey player, male or female, ever to win a medal.
But that was only the second stage of her career!
Riikka returned to play in the 2019 Women’s Worlds as Riikka Sallinen, and although she was now 45 years old – the oldest participant ever in WW play – she helped the Finns to an unprecedented run to the gold medal game. The team lost in a heart-breaking shootout to the U.S., but Sallinen now had a silver medal to go with her combined eight bronze medals.
She retired last summer, perhaps for good?, but her story is as inspiring as it is spectacular.
Click here for the overview of stories.