Aino Karppinen (born 7 August 1997) is a Finnish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player and member of the Finnish national team. She plays in the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League (), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016–17 season. The league has ...

(SDHL) with

Skellefteå AIK Skellefteå AIK is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Skellefteå. They currently play In the Swedish Hockey League. They play their home games in Skellefteå Kraft Arena, which seats 6,001 spectators. The team has won the Swedish Ch ...

Playing career

Karppinen developed in the youth department of

Rovaniemen Kiekko Rovaniemen Kiekko, abbreviated RoKi, is an ice hockey team in the Finnish Mestis. They play in Rovaniemi, Finland at Lappi Areena, which has a 3,500 spactator capacity. RoKi was established in 1979 and is operated by RoKi Hockey Oy. The tea ...

(RoKi), an ice hockey club in her hometown of

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

. She debuted at the women's senior level with RoKi Naiset in the 2013–14 season of the

Naisten Mestis Naisten Mestis (; from , 'Championship series') is the second-highest women's national ice hockey league in Finland. Founded as the Naisten I-divisioona () in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, when the number of teams playing in the Au ...

, during which she played a total of six matches. Over the following seasons, she variously played with RoKi Naiset and the RoKi under-16 and under-18 men's teams. During the 2016–17 Naisten Mestis season, Karppinen served as RoKi Naiset's

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

. In the 2018–19 season, she moved to

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

to play with

Kärpät Naiset Oulun Kärpät Naiset () are an ice hockey team in the Auroraliiga. They play in Oulu, a city on the northeastern coast of the Bothnian Bay in the Finnish north-central region of North Ostrobothnia, at the (; also known as Raksila 2) of Oulun E ...

of the

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten L ...

. With Kärpät, she won

Finnish Championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

bronze in 2019 and the team qualified for the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

bronze medal game before the playoffs were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. After RoKi Naiset gained promotion to the Naisten Liiga at the conclusion of the 2019–20 season, Karppinen returned to her home club for the

2020–21 Naisten Liiga season The 2020–21 season was the thirty-eighth season of the , Finland's elite women's ice hockey league, since the league's creation in 1982. The season began, as scheduled, on 5 September 2020, making the Naisten Liiga the first women's national ...

. In addition to playing with RoKi Naiset, she also played 21 games with the RoKi U18 men's team in the 2020–21 U18 Mestis season.

International play

Karppinen was a member of the Finnish national under-18 ice hockey team during the 2015–16 international season, which culminated with her participation in the

2016 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship The 2016 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship was the ninth IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in ice hockey organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Top Division The Top Division tournament was played during 8 to 15 Janu ...

. At the World U18 Championship, Karppinen was Finland’s highest scoring defenseman, recording three points (1+2) in five games. At the senior level, Karppinen has appeared with the Finnish national team at various tournaments in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 international seasons, including three of the four tournaments comprising the 2019–20 Women's Euro Hockey Tour. She participated in the national team training camp in preparation for the 2020 IIHF World Women's Championship but was not selected to the final roster. The

2021 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which was contested in Calgary, Alberta, from 20 to 31 August 2021, at WinSport Arena. It was ori ...

was her World Championship debut. She was the first Rovaniemi-born product of the RoKi youth system and third woman from

Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...

to be selected to the Finnish national team.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karppinen, Aino 1997 births Living people AIK Hockey Dam players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Finnish women's ice hockey defencemen Leksands IF (women) players Luleå HF/MSSK players Oulun Kärpät Naiset players RoKi Naiset players Skellefteå AIK (women) players Sportspeople from Rovaniemi Ice hockey people from Lapland (Finland) 21st-century Finnish sportswomen