| Jenni Hiirikoski | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Hiirikoski (center) representing Finland at the 2011 IIHF World Championship | |||
| Born | (1987-03-30)30 March 1987 (age 38) 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 | ||
Jenni Hiirikoski (born 30 March 1987) is a Finnishice hockey player andcaptain of theFinnish national team andLuleå HF/MSSK in theSwedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL).[1]
She is widely considered one of the best active ice hockeydefensemen 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 amongSDHL 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]
Hiirikoski grew up inLempäälä, Finland, and played youth ice hockey with the local clubLempäälän Kisa (LeKi). She began her premier league career in 2001, at age 14, with theTampereen Ilves Naiset of theNaisten 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 2006–07Espoo Blues, which had a roster overflowing with talent; in addition to Hiirikoski, the team includedKaroliina 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 withSKIF Nizhny Novgorod in theRussian Women's Hockey League (replaced by the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) in 2015). The roster included two other Finns, her teammates from the Espoo BluesKaroliina Rantamäki andMarjo Voutilainen. SKIF was dominant and won both the Russian Championship and the2009 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup.[6]
In June 2016, she announced that she was moving to Sweden to sign withLuleå 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 byHV71.
She was named Luleå captain ahead of the2017–18 season.
After going without a point in her first twelve games of the2019–20 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 theCOVID-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 byThe 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 andRonja Savolainen were nominated for the 2019–20 SDHL Best Defender Award, though the award ultimately went toSidney Morin of HV71.[11]
Hiirikoski's speed, on-ice awareness, and passing ability have drawing comparisons toErik Karlsson at the height of his career.[12]
Hiirikoski made her debut with the Finnish national team at age 17 in the2004 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 the2010 Winter Olympics inVancouver, the2018 Winter Olympics inPyeongChang, and the2022 Winter Olympics inBeijing. She also competed with the Finnish national team in thewomen's ice hockey tournament at the2014 Winter Olympics inSochi, at which Finland placed fifth.
As of 2024[update], Hiirikoski has participated in fifteenIIHF Women's World Championships, winning a silver medal at the tournament in2019 and eight bronze medals, at the tournaments in2004,2008,2009,2011,2015,2017,2021, and2024.
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’sPetra Nieminen was waved off because Hiirikoski had made contact with American goaltenderAlex Cavallini outside of thecrease.[13]
| 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 | ||||
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Finland | WC |  | 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 | | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2009 | Finland | WC | | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2010 | Finland | OG | | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 2011 | Finland | WC | | 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 | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| 2016 | Finland | WC | 4th | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| 2017 | Finland | WC | | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| 2018 | Finland | OG | | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| 2019 | Finland | WC |  | 7 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2021 | Finland | WC | | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2022 | Finland | OG | | 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 | | 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |
| 120 | 18 | 56 | 74 | 54 | |||||
Sources:[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
| 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 |
