Noora Raty during her last big international tournament at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship on home ice in Espoo.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
The greatest goalkeeper in Finnish women’s national team, Noora Raty, announced recently that her career won’t continue on the national team level.
“Four Olympics, nine Worlds, and more than 200 games with Team Finland. Thank you, Finland, thank you Lionesses. It was a great honour to represent my country for almost 18 years,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I never could’ve imagined what a journey was waiting for me when I played my first national team game against Sweden in October 2004. It’s been memorable, I feel privileged,” she added.
Raty is not leaving hockey completely. She’s still on the board of the PWHPA in North America, and this fall, she signed with HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish league where she has posted a 94.8 save percentage - including one shutout – in four games.
She recently also signed on to be Team China’s women’s team’s goalie coach as the nation prepares to host the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group A tournaments in 2023, 2024, and 2025 (if China plays in the group) in Shenzhen.
“I was offered this opportunity to give back to a program that’s supported me in the last five years,” said Raty, who signed with the Kunlun Red Star - later Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays and KRS Vanke Rays – when the team played first in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and then in Russia’s WHL.
“I negotiated my own salary, which is a good one, and has certain bonuses, naturally,” she told Finnish Ilta-Sanomat.
Raty hasn’t played in the Finnish national team since the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship due to what many observers saw as a long feud with the former head coach Pasi Mustonen. In mid-October, the day before her announcement, Raty released her biography “Queen Lioness”, co-authored by Marika Lehto.
“I’ve achieved all my hockey dreams and many other things I didn’t even know to dream about. Hockey is just one grain of sand in life, it’s not the whole life. Everybody’s games come to an end, that’s just a fact,” she wrote.
“Four Olympics, nine Worlds, and more than 200 games with Team Finland. Thank you, Finland, thank you Lionesses. It was a great honour to represent my country for almost 18 years,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I never could’ve imagined what a journey was waiting for me when I played my first national team game against Sweden in October 2004. It’s been memorable, I feel privileged,” she added.
Raty is not leaving hockey completely. She’s still on the board of the PWHPA in North America, and this fall, she signed with HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish league where she has posted a 94.8 save percentage - including one shutout – in four games.
She recently also signed on to be Team China’s women’s team’s goalie coach as the nation prepares to host the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group A tournaments in 2023, 2024, and 2025 (if China plays in the group) in Shenzhen.
“I was offered this opportunity to give back to a program that’s supported me in the last five years,” said Raty, who signed with the Kunlun Red Star - later Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays and KRS Vanke Rays – when the team played first in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and then in Russia’s WHL.
“I negotiated my own salary, which is a good one, and has certain bonuses, naturally,” she told Finnish Ilta-Sanomat.
Raty hasn’t played in the Finnish national team since the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship due to what many observers saw as a long feud with the former head coach Pasi Mustonen. In mid-October, the day before her announcement, Raty released her biography “Queen Lioness”, co-authored by Marika Lehto.
“I’ve achieved all my hockey dreams and many other things I didn’t even know to dream about. Hockey is just one grain of sand in life, it’s not the whole life. Everybody’s games come to an end, that’s just a fact,” she wrote.