| Valeria Tarakanova Валерия Тараканова | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1998-06-20)20 June 1998 (age 27) | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Weight | 83 kg (183 lb; 13 st 1 lb) | ||
| Position | Goaltender | ||
| Catches | Left | ||
| ZhHL team Former teams | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod SKIF Nizhny Novgorod | ||
| National team |  Russia | ||
| Playing career | 2014–present | ||
Valeria Dmitrievna Tarakanova (Russian:Валерия Дмитриевна Тараканова,romanized: Valeriya Dmitriyevna Tarakanova; born 20 June 1998) is a Russianice hockeygoaltender, currently playing in theZhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) withTorpedo Nizhny Novgorod.
As ajunior player with theRussian national under-18 team, Tarakanova participated in theIIHF Women's U18 World Championships in2014,2015, and2016. At the 2015 tournament, she backstopped the Russian team to a bronze medal victory with a .919save percentage and 2.74goals against average while playing in all six games. In recognition of her outstanding play, she was selected as Best Goaltender by the tournament directorate, named to the media All-Star Team, and chosen as a top-three player on the Russian team by the coaches. At the 2016 tournament, she again served as the starting netminder, playing in all six games and registering a .901 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average, as Russia fell to Sweden in the bronze medal match. Despite narrowly missing the medal podium, Tarakanova was singled out as the tournament'sMVP by the media and, in a repeat of the previous year, chosen as a top-3 player on the Russian team.
She representedRussia at the2015 IIHF Women's World Championship and is a two-timeWinter Universiade gold medalist, having participated in the Russian victories in thewomen's ice hockey tournament at the2017 Winter Universiade and in thewomen's ice hockey tournament at the2019 Winter Universiade.[1] With theOlympic Athletes from Russia women's national ice hockey team, she participated in thewomen's ice hockey tournament at the2018 Winter Olympics inPyeongchang.
