Jenna Suokko

Jenna Suokko (born 14 June 1995) is a Finnish ice hockey player, currently playing with the Buffalo Beauts of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).[1][2]

Jenna Suokko
Born (1995-06-14) 14 June 1995
Tampere, Finland
Height 157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight 55 kg (121 lb; 8 st 9 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
PHF team
Former teams		 Buffalo Beauts
Ilves Tampere
Leksands IF
Team Kuortane
National team  Finland
Playing career 2010–present

Playing career

At age 15, Suokko made her debut in the Naisten SM-sarja (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017), the premier women’s ice hockey league in Finland, with the Tampereen Ilves Naiset in the 2010–11 season. She remained with the team the following season, winning Aurora Borealis Cup silver medals in 2011 and again in 2012.[3][4] Ilves won the IIHF European Women's Champions Cup (EWCC) in 2011 – the only Finnish team to ever win the tournament – and Suokko recorded a goal against SKIF Nizhny Novgorod in the round-robin finals.[5][6] Suokko's teammates from the 2011 EWCC Chazmpion roster included Anna Kilponen, Sari Kärnä, Rosa Lindstedt, Saara Niemi (née Tuominen), Heidi Pelttari, and Mari Saarinen.[7]

In 2012, Suokko joined Team Oriflame Kuortane, where she reunited with former Ilves teammate Anna Kilponen and joined a roster of rising stars in Finnish women's ice hockey, including Suvi Ollikainen, Tiina Ranne, Vilma Tanskanen, Saana Valkama, and Ella Viitasuo. Team Kuortane won the U20 SM-turnaus ('Under-20 Finnish Championship tournament') in 2013 and 2014 but they struggled in the SM-sarja and were forced to save themselves from being relegated to the Naisten Mestis in the 2013–14 season.

Suokko returned to Ilves for the 2014–15 season and won Finnish Championship bronze.[8] In the 2015–16 season, she played two games with Team Kuortane before enrolling at Olds College in Olds, Alberta, Canada and joining the Olds College Broncos women's ice hockey program of the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference (ACAC).[9] She led the team in scoring, with 8 goals and 4 assists for 12 points in 22 games, and was honoured as the 2015–16 ACAC Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year.[10]

The following season, Suokko signed with Leksands IF Dam of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL).[11][12] She tallied 5 goals and a team-leading 37 penalty minutes (PIM) in the 36 game 2016–17 SDHL season.

After playing two seasons abroad, she returned to Finland in 2017 to begin university studies and to play with Ilves Tampere. The move quickly paid off and Ilves won Aurora Borealis Cup silver medals in 2017–18 and 2018–19. Suokko developed from seventh ranked for team scoring in the 2017–18 season to third in 2018–19 (behind only Linda Leppänen (née Välimäki) and Riikka Noronen) to the team’s top scorer in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons. She served as an alternate captain, along with Kreetta Kulhua, Jenna Lehtiniemi and Helen Puputti, in the leadership group of captain Anna Kilponen during the 2020–21 season and was named to the 2021 Naisten Liiga All-Star Team II.

At the conclusion of the 2020–21 season, Suokko had played 249 regular season games in the Naisten Liiga and amassed 116 goals and 107 assists for 223 points, a career average of 0.90 points per game.[1]

On 4 August 2021, Suokko signed a one year contract with the Buffalo Beauts of the PHF.[13] She is the second Finn to play in the league and the first since the collapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) and founding of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA); the first Finn to play in the PHF (then called the NWHL) was goaltender Meeri Räisänen, who played with the Connecticut Whale in the 2018–19 season.[14]

International play

Suokko was a member of the Finnish national under-18 team during 2010 to 2013 and represented Finland at the IIHF Women's World U18 Championships (WW18) in 2011, 2012, and 2013. At the 2011 tournament, Finland beat Switzerland in the bronze medal match to earn its first U18 Worlds medal.[15]

At the senior level, Suokko has played with the Finnish national under-22 team (also called the Finland National Development Team) and the Finnish national team, first in August 2014.[16] She represented Finland at the Nations Cup in 2016 and won silver after the team successfully pushed Canada to overtime in the gold medal match.[10] As of August 2021, Suokko has played 17 international matches with the Finnish national team but has not been selected to represent Finland at the IIHF Women's World Championship or Olympic Games.[1]

Personal life

Suokko has a bachelor's degree in nursing from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and has worked as a hemodialysis nurse.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Postseason
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2010-11 Ilves NSMs 26 7 9 16 26 9 2 1 3 6
2011-12 Ilves NSMs 31 18 13 31 26 8 2 0 2 2
2012-13 Team Oriflame NSMs 28 11 8 19 32 3 1 1 2 22
2013-14 Team Oriflame NSMs 28 11 4 15 38 10* 16* 9* 25* 8*
2014-15 Ilves NSMs 23 9 7 16 24 9 2 1 3 12
2015-16 Team Kuortane NSMs 2 0 0 0 4 – – – – –
2015-16 Olds College Broncos ACAC 22 8 4 12 16 – – – – –
2016-17 Leksands IF SDHL 36 5 0 5 37 2 0 0 0 2
2017-18 Ilves NSML 30 7 13 20 24 7 0 1 1 4
2018-19 Ilves NSML 26 18 20 38 14 4 0 1 1 2
2019-20 Ilves NSML 27 13 19 32 16 3 0 0 0 8
2020-21 Ilves NSML 28 22 14 36 28 7 2 1 3 4
2021-22Buffalo BeautsPHF 182574 10000
2022-23Buffalo BeautsPHF 2422412 –––––
Naisten Liiga totals 249 116 107 223 232 50 9 6 15 60
PHF totals 42471116 10000

* Postseason results for the 2013–14 season are from the qualification series (Finnish: Karsintasarja) rather than the playoffs and are not calculated with playoff totals.

References
  1. "Player Profile: Jenna Suokko". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. "Players – Finland – Jenna Suokko". EuroHockey.com. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  3. "HPK:n lätkämimmeille kultaa". Yle (in Finnish). 29 March 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  4. Mennander, Pasi (25 March 2012). "Naisten Suomen mestari 2012: Kärpät!". Leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  5. Lichtner, Horst; Szemberg, Szymon, eds. (April 2011). "Ilves Tampere writes history" (PDF). Ice Times. IIHF. 15 (2): 4.
  6. "European Women Champions Cup – Round Robin - Game 1 – Game Summary" (PDF). IIHF. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  7. "European Women Champions Cup – Player Statistics by Team: ILV - Ilves Tampere" (PDF). IIHF. 27 February 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  8. "Naisten lätkäpronssi Ilvekselle". Yle (in Finnish). 7 March 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  9. Claggett, Jim (16 February 2016). "Finding A Hockey Home Away From Home". Armchair Sports Alberta. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  10. "Jenna Suokko Honoured as the 2015-16 ACAC Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year". Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  11. Ranta, Pekka (18 September 2016). "Leksandin Jenna Suokko pitää Ruotsin naisten kiekkoliigan tasoa kovana - Sveriges Radio Finska". Sveriges Radio (Radio interview) (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  12. Bodin, Uffe (17 August 2016). "Landslagsmeriterad finska klar för Leksand". HockeySverige (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  13. "Beauts Add High-Flying Finn Jenna Suokko". Buffalo Beauts at NWHL.zone (Press release). 4 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  14. Teiskonlahti, Kirsi (5 August 2021). "Ilveksen tehokkain pelaaja Jenna Suokko siirtyy ensi kaudeksi NWHL:ään". Aamulehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  15. Mennander, Pasi (5 January 2015). "Tyttöleijonien ainoa MM-mitali vuodelta 2011 - Joko nyt saadaan ainokaiselle kaveri?". Leijonat.fi. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  16. Malmberg, Henna (15 August 2014). "Naisleijonat: Finnkampen-joukkue sekoitus kokemusta ja nuoria tulokkaita". Leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
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