Meeri Räisänen

Meeri Räisänen (born 2 December 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender, currently playing with HPK Kiekkonaiset of the Naisten Liiga (NSML) and the Finnish national team.[1] As a member of the Finnish national team, she won an Olympic bronze medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics, a World Championship bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship, and was named to the World Championship All-Star Team in 2015 and 2016.

Meeri Räisänen
Born (1989-12-02) 2 December 1989
Tampere, Pirkanmaa, Finland
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NSML team
Former teams		 HPK Hämeenlinna
National team  Finland
Playing career 2005–present
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
2018 PyeongchangTeam
World Championships
2015 Sweden

Playing career

According to her parents, Räisänen wasn’t satisfied with watching her older brother practice ice hockey at the Koulukatu open-air ice rink in their hometown of Tampere, and instead hung on the boards and shouted that she wanted to go out on the ice until there was no alternative but to put skates on her feet and let her join in. She began playing with the youth section of the ice-sports club Tappara in Tampere and became committed to goaltending by the age of nine. Crowded out of a goalie position on the club’s top hockey team for her age group, she switched to ringette for several years but became bored with the lesser role of goaltending in the more defensively-minded game and returned to hockey. By age 14, Räisänen was playing in the top women’s ice hockey league in Finland, the Naisten SM-sarja (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017), and practicing with the top-level boy’s teams for her age group.[2]

Career in Finland

In Finland, Räisänen has played seasons with several teams in the Naisten Liiga, winning the Finnish Championship with the Espoo Blues Naiset in 2009 and with the JYP Jyväskylä Naiset in 2016. She has received both the Tuula Puputti Award for best goaltender in the Naisten Liiga and been named to the league’s First All-Star Team three times.

In addition to her career in the top women’s league, Räisänen played portions of the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons in the Suomi-sarja, the third tier men’s ice hockey league in Finland. On 29 November 2015, she and fellow Finnish national team goaltender Noora Räty faced off against each other in a Suomi-sarja game between D-Kiekko and KJT. The netminders made history as “the first women’s goaltenders to go head-to-head in a professional men’s contest in Finland” and the game was, according to available accounts, the highest-level men’s ice hockey game ever to feature opposing women goaltenders, in any country. Räisänen held KJT to three goals but D-Kiekko sacrificed two empty net goals after Räisänen was pulled and the game ended with a 5–2 victory for Räty’s KJT.[3] Reflecting on the game in an interview following the match, Räisänen said, “Now two women goaltenders have proven that they can play at this level. Noora did it first, which helped change the attitudes towards women goaltenders and made my job easier. This match was a good way to promote women’s hockey. We want to [grow the game] and be examples for girls in the junior leagues.”[4] According to the boxscore of the match recorded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, only 70 spectators attended the landmark game.[5]

International club career

Räisänen has also competed at the international club leagues, most recently with AIK Hockey Dam of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) in the 2019–20 season.[6] The 2014–15 season was spent with SKIF Nizhny Novgorod of the Women's Hockey League (ZhHL) and resulted in Russian Championship silver and the 2015 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup.[7]

Räisänen was selected in the eighth round, #41 overall by the Markham Thunder in the 2018 CWHL Draft but ultimately chose not to sign with the team.[8]

She joined the Connecticut Whale of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) for the 2018–19 season, becoming the first player from Finland to ever play the league.[9][10] She made her debut with the Whale on 7 October 2018, matching up against Team USA Olympic goaltender Nicole Hensley of the Buffalo Beauts.[11]

International play

Räisänen was selected for the Finland women's national ice hockey team in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She dressed in all six games, but did not play.[12]

Räisänen has also represented Finland at four IIHF Women's World Championships. Her first appearance came in 2012.[13][14][15]

Career statistics

Through 2013–14 season

Year Team Event GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2012 Finland WW 3 1 0 98 9 0 5.47 .800
2013 Finland WW 2 1 0 75 2 1 1.59 .895

References
  1. Uusitalo, Timo (2020-09-04). "MM-kisojen All Stars-maalivahti palaa HPK Kiekkonaisiin – Meeri Räisänen nähtäneen myös poikajunioreiden maalilla" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  2. Pesu, Vili (2015-12-11). ""Jotkut eivät vain hyväksy, että tyttö pärjää poikien sarjassa"" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  3. Clinton, Jared (2015-11-30). "Two female netminders make history in Finnish men's league". The Hockey News. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  4. Pesu, Vili (2015-11-28). "Noora Räty: "Nyt ihmiset eivät pysty mollaamaan meitä"" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  5. "Ottelupöytäkirja: Suomi-sarja - Hyrylä 2, 28.11.2015" (PDF). tilastopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. 2015-11-28. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  6. Karttunen, Anu (2019-07-26). "Meeri Räisänen vaihtaa Connecticutin Tukholmaan" [Meeri Räisänen relocates from Connecticut to Stockholm] (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
  7. Staffieri, Mark (2015-04-04). "Finnish Goalie Meeri Raisanen Brings Finland Back to Bronze Medal". Women’s Hockey Life. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  8. Earl Zukerman (27 August 2018). "McGill's Atkinson selected in CWHL Draft by Les Canadiennes". McGill Athletics. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  9. Rice, Dan (2018-10-01). "Connecticut Whale: Meeri Räisänen Becomes First Finnish NWHLer". The Hockey Writers. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  10. "Finnish Olympic Team Goaltender Meeri Räisänen Signs with the Whale". NWHL.zone. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  11. Rice, Dan (7 October 2018). "Olympians Hensley and Räisänen Battle as Beauts Defeat Whale, 4-0". NWHL.zone. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  12. IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2014 Olympics
  13. IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2011 World Championship
  14. IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2012 World Championship
  15. "IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2013 World Championship" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-31. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
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