Eveliina Suonpää

Eveliina Suonpää (born 12 April 1995) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender who currently plays with Leksands IF of the SDHL and with the Finnish national team.

Eveliina Suonpää
Born (1995-04-12) 12 April 1995
Kiukainen, Finland
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 68 kg (150 lb; 10 st 10 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
SDHL team
Former teams		 Leksands IF
Linköping HC
Lukko Naiset
Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs
Ilves Naiset
Team Kuortane
National team  Finland
Playing career 2011–present
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
2018 PyeongchangTeam
World Championships
2019 Finland
2015 Sweden
2017 United States

Biography

Suonpää was born in Kiukainen.[1][2] She has played ice hockey since the age of four. She started playing with her brother, and learned the game in an ice hockey rink in her home municipality. She played on hockey teams with men for two seasons during her junior years before eventually joining all-women teams.[3] She currently plays for Lukko in Jääkiekon naisten SM-sarja, the Finnish national women's ice hockey league,[4] where she finished the 2012–13 season with a 3.02 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.[4]

In the 2014–15 school year Suonpää attended the University of Minnesota Duluth and plays for their women's hockey team, which is an NCAA Division 1 program.

Between 2016 and 2018, she played as the started for Lukko Naiset in Finland. She was named the Naisten Liiga Best Goaltender in 2017.

In May 2018, she announced that she was signing with Linköping HC in Sweden, taking over the starting position from the retiring Florence Schelling.[5]

After two years in Linköping, she left the club to sign with Leksands IF.[6]

International career

Suonpää played with the Finland women's national under-18 team during the 2013 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, finishing a 2.77 goals against average and .905 save percentage.[4]

She made her debut on the senior Finland women's national ice hockey team in August 2013 with a 4–1 victory over Japan. She split goaltending for that game with Tiina Ranne, who was also making her debut with the team.[7]

Suonpää was chosen to play in the 2014 Winter Olympics as the third goaltender, a selection that she said took her by surprise.[3] She was again named to Finland's roster for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

She has represented Finland at the 2015, 2017, and 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship.

Personal life

She has lived in Kuortane, where she was a student at the Kuortaneen urheilulukio sports academy.[3]

On the question of hitting in women's hockey, she has stated that "right now it’s really hard for the refs to differentiate what ‘contact’ means. Maybe there could be room for changes in the rules to allow more body contact without it overtaking the game."[8]

References
  1. "Eveliina Suonpää". 2014 Winter Olympics. February 2014. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. "Tällä joukkueella Naisleijonat hakee mitalia Sotshista". Yle Urheilu. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  3. Hanhikoski, Herkko (21 January 2014). "Opiskelijana olympialaisiin: Eveliina Suonpää". Jatkoaika.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  4. "Eveliina Suonpää". Eurohockey.com. February 2014. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  5. https://www.theicegarden.com/2018/5/3/17315722/eveliina-suonpaa-lukko-linkoping-hc-team-finland-sdhl
  6. https://hockeysverige.se/2020/05/15/eveliina-suonpaa-klar-for-leksands-if
  7. "Naisleijonat kaatoi Japanin – Susanna Tapani hurjassa iskussa, maalivahtidebytantit onnistuivat". Leijonat.fi. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  8. https://thehockeywriters.com/hitting-in-womens-hockey-2/
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