Minttu Tuominen

Minnamari "Minttu" Tuominen (born 26 June 1990) is a Finnish ice hockey player, currently playing in the Naisten Liiga (NSML) with Kiekko-Espoo Naiset. A member of the Finnish national ice hockey team since 2008, she has earned medals at three Winter Olympic Games and five IIHF World Women's Championships.[1][2][3]

Minttu Tuominen
Tuominen with the Metropolitan Riveters in 2022
Born (1990-06-26) 26 June 1990
Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight 71 kg (157 lb; 11 st 3 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Right
NSML team
Former teams		 Kiekko-Espoo
National team  Finland
Playing career 2006–present
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2010 VancouverIce hockey
Bronze medal – third place2018 PyeongchangIce hockey
Bronze medal – third place2022 BeijingIce hockey
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2019 Finland
Bronze medal – third place2011 Switzerland
Bronze medal – third place2015 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place2017 United States
Bronze medal – third place2021 Canada

Playing career

Finland

Tuominen played for the Espoo Blues Naiset in the Naisten SM-sarja (NSMs; rebrended as Naisten Liiga in 2017) and attended Makelanrinne Sports High School in Helsinki. At Makelanrinne, captained the team after being named one of the school's top athletes of 2007 and 2008.[4] As a member of the Espoo Blues, she won the Finnish Championship three times (2007, 2008, 2009). One of her teammates with the Espoo Blues was Emma Terho (née Laaksonen).

Ohio State Buckeyes

Milestones at Ohio State include:

  • First goal: 3 October 2009, at Boston University
  • First assist: 2 October 2009, at Boston University

PHF

Tuominen signed with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) for the 2022–23 season, during which she served as an alternate captain. She played on the first defensive pairing alongside Anna Kilponen and scored nine goals on the season, the second-most goals scored in a season by a defenseman in league history. As the backbone of the first power play unit she scored six power play goals, setting a league record.

She re-signed with the club for the 2023–24 season in May 2023.[5] The PHF was bought out and dissolved in late June 2023 and her contract was terminated, prompting her return to Finland.

In August 2023, she signed with Kiekko-Espoo for the 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season, but her contract included the option to leave the team during the season in order to play in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), the new North American league that replaced the PHF and is slated to begin in January 2024.[6]

PWHL

Tuominen was selected in the fourteenth round, 84th overall by the Minnesota PWHL team in the 2023 PWHL Draft. She was the second Finnish player to be drafted into the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), following Susanna Tapani, who was also selected by Minnesota.[7]

International play

As a junior player with the Finnish national under-18 team, Tuominen participated in the 2008 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship.

Tuominen made her debut with the Finnish national team in 2008, appearing in a series against Sweden in September, the 2008 Four Nations Cup in November, and helping Finland win the Euro Hockey Tour in December.

She was a member of the bronze medal-winning Finnish team at the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, China and played at the 2009 MLP Nations Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. Tuominen won a bronze medal at the 2010 Four Nations Cup in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Her first major IIHF tournament with the Finnish national team was the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where she won her first Olympic bronze medal. At the 2011 IIHF Women's World Championship, she recorded her first point at a major IIHF tournament – the primary assist on Annina Rajahuhta's goal against Kazakhstan in the preliminary round – and her first major tournament goal, scoring twice against Russia in the bronze medal game, which Finland ultimately won in overtime.

Having established herself as a core player on the national team, Tuominen went on to play at the subsequent seven IIHF Women's World Championships, winning a silver medal in 2019 and bronze medals in 2015, 2017, and 2021. She was selected as a top-three player for Finland by the coaches at the 2015 tournament.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2003–04 KS Noux Naisten Suomi-sarja 5 1 0 1 2 – – – – –
2004–05 KS Noux Naisten I-div. 8 3 1 4 2 – – – – –
2005–06 KS Noux Naisten I-div. 11 4 6 10 6 – – – – –
2006–07 Espoo Blues NSMs 17 5 2 7 0 7 0 1 1 4
2007–08 Espoo Blues NSMs 11 4 3 7 0 9 0 4 4 0
2008–09 Espoo Blues NSMs 22 14 21 35 6 6 2 3 5 4
2009–10 Ohio State Buckeyes NCAA 23 6 5 11 8 – – – – –
2010–11 Ohio State Buckeyes NCAA 32 2 8 10 10 – – – – –
2011–12 Ohio State Buckeyes NCAA 32 2 7 9 22 – – – – –
2012–13 Ohio State Buckeyes NCAA 37 6 13 19 22 – – – – –
2013–14 Espoo Blues NSMs 24 11 20 31 24 8 5 9 14 6
2014–15 Espoo Blues NSMs 26 17 32 49 40 3 2 4 6 4
2015–16 Espoo Blues NSMs 28 13 45 58 16 6 4 3 7 8
2016–17 Linköping HC SDHL 32 17 9 26 20 5 1 0 1 4
2017–18 Espoo Blues NSML 20 12 11 23 10 10 2 5 7 12
2018–19 Espoo Blues NSML 30 13 50 63 18 6 3 4 7 6
2019–20 Kiekko-Espoo NSML 30 19 21 40 14 6 3 13 16 4
2020–21 KRS Vanke Rays ZhHL 24 5 13 18 14 5 0 0 0 4
2021–22 Kiekko-Espoo NSML 15 3 13 16 2 – – – – –
2021–22 KRS Vanke Rays ZhHL 12 2 4 6 10 8 0 6 6 12
2022–23Metropolitan RivetersPHF 24951410 ––––—
NCAA totals 124 16 33 49 62 –––––
Naisten Liiga totals 223 111 218 329 130 61 21 46 67 48
ZhHL totals 36 7 17 24 24 13 0 6 6 16

Sources:[8]

Finland
EventGoalsAssistsPointsShotsPIM+/-
2010 Winter Olympics000000
2011 IIHF World Championships2241510+2

[9][10][11][12][13][14]

References
  1. "Две россиянки, трое призёров ЧМ-2021: «КРС Ванке Рэйз» обновили состав". Женская хоккейная лига (in Russian). 3 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. "Minttu Tuominen "C" #15". Kiekko-Espoo Naiset (in Finnish). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). reports.iihf.hockey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "15 Minttu Tuominen". Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  5. Kass, Matthew (11 May 2023). "Metropolitan Riveters Announce Re-Signing of Amanda Pelkey, Minttu Tuominen". Metropolitan Riveters (Press release). Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  6. "Minttu Tuominen palaa kotiin". Kiekko-Espoo Naiset (Press release) (in Finnish). 22 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  7. Seppä, Lassi (19 September 2023). "Minttu Tuomiselle PWHL-varaus tilaisuuden loppuhetkillä". Jatkoaika (in Finnish). Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  8. "Ohio State Buckeyes Women's Hockey 2009–2010 Statistics: Overall". USCHO.com. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  9. "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  10. "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  11. "Women's Preliminary Round - Group B : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  12. "Women's Play-offs Semifinals : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  13. "Women's Bronze Medal Game : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics". Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  14. "Archived copy" (PDF). reports.iihf.hockey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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