Anna Vanhatalo (born 29 February 1984) is a Finnish retired

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 ...

and

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and the Finnish national ringette team. Representing

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, she won a bronze medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, she won gold in the

World Ringette Championships The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather ...

Ringette career

Vanhatalo made her goaltending debut in the premier Finnish ringette league, the , at age 18 in 2002. She was a member of the Finnish national ringette team in

and

. Vanhatalo won two

gold medals, one in the

2004 World Ringette Championships The 2004 World Ringette Championships (''2004 WRC'') was an international ringette tournament and the 7th (XII) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Stockho ...

held in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where she was elected the best goaltender of the tournament, and the other gold medal in the

2007 World Ringette Championships The 2007 World Ringette Championships (''2007 WRC'') was an international ringette tournament and the 8th (VIII) of the World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in ...

held in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. In 2006, Vanhatalo went to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to play one season for the

Montreal Mission Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-peak ...

in the

National Ringette League The National Ringette League (NRL) ''()'' is the premier league for the sport of ringette in North America and Canada's national league for elite ringette players aged 18 and up. The NRL is not a women's variant of a more well-known men's leag ...

. In exchange, her Finnish team, Helsinki Ringette, received Montreal Mission goalkeeper Claudia Jetté.

Ice hockey career

Vanhatalo began playing ice hockey at age 25 in 2009, joining the powerhouse

Espoo Blues Naiset Kiekko-Espoo Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Auroraliiga. They play in the Tapiola district of Espoo, Finland at the () of the Tapiolan urheilupuisto. The team was founded as Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS) in 1989 and has also been known as E ...

in Finland’s top league, the

Naisten SM-sarja The is the national premier league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten Suomen mestaruus, SM-sarja (NSMs; ) in 1982, it was known as the Naisten Liiga (NSML;) from 2017 until being rebr ...

, as their starting goaltender. Her first ice hockey season was a resounding success, she recorded a magnificent .952

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

across ten games played in the regular season and backstopped the team to silver medals in the

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 ...

and the 2010 European Women's Champions Cup. Her performance earned the

Tuula Puputti Award The Tuula Puputti Award () is an ice hockey trophy awarded seasonally by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association to the best goaltender of the Naisten Liiga (called the Naisten SM-sarja during 1982 to 2017). It is named after Tuula Puputti, the fir ...

in 2010, recognizing her as the Naisten SM-sarja Goaltender of the Year. The following season, Vanhatalo signed alongside Finnish national team teammate

Karoliina Rantamäki Karoliina Stina Margaretha Rantamäki (born 23 February 1978) is a Finnish ice hockey forward. She plays in the Auroraliiga with Kiekko-Espoo. Rantamäki holds the all-time career record for games played with the Finnish women's national ice ...

as the only expatriates with

SKIF Nizhny Novgorod HK SKIF Nizhny Novgorod () were a Russian professional ice hockey team in the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) until 2022, at which time their league rights were transferred to Hockey Club Torpedo and the team became ZhHK Torpedo. HC SKIF played ...

in the

Russian Women's Hockey League The Zhenskaya Hockey League or ZhHL (), officially called the Women's Hockey League (WHL), is a professional ice hockey league in Russia, currently comprising eight teams. The league is also known as the PariMatch Women's Hockey League for sponso ...

. Undaunted by the international relocation, Vanhatalo played as the backup to starter

Valentina Ostrovlyanchik Valentina may refer to: People * Valentina (given name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) * Valentina (wrestler), stage name of Elizabeth Miklosi (born 1983), an American professional wrestler * Valentina (Italian ...

and maintained her stellar-caliber statistics, ending the season with a .949 save percentage and a solid 1.36

goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

(GAA) in eight games played. Unable to continue playing with SKIF due to restrictions placed by the RWHL on the number of import players per team, she opted to play the 2011–12 season in the Swiss Women's Hockey League A (SWHL A) with the

ZSC Lions Frauen ZSC may refer to: * Zamalek SC, an Egyptian sports club * ZSC Lions, a Swiss ice hockey club {{disambiguation ...

based in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Though she split the goal with Canadian-Swiss goaltender Vanessa Clavadetscher during the SWHL A season, she was the starting netminder for the

EWHL Super Cup The EWHL Euro Cup (formerly EWHL Super Cup) is an ice hockey tournament for women's club teams organized by the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation (HIHF/MJSZ) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded by the IIHF in 2011 in ...

in 2012 and the 2012 European Women's Champions Cup, backstopping the team to silver medal finishes in both tournaments. Vanhatalo did not play ice hockey in the 2012–13 regular season but she returned to the starting role with the ZSC Lions for the EWHL Super Cup in 2013, contributing a magnificent .970 save percentage and 0.79 GAA to the team’s first Super Cup victory. She was also the team’s starter for the 2013 European Women's Champions Cup, at which the Lions placed fourth.

International play

Vanhatalo was selected to the Finnish Olympic team in her first season playing ice hockey. She won a bronze medal in the women’s ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics while serving as third goaltender behind starter

Noora Räty Noora Helena Räty (born 29 May 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and the goaltending coach of Shenzhen KRS in the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey League. She was a founding board member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association ...

and backup

Mira Kuisma Mira Kuisma (born 6 May 1987) is a Finnish retired ice hockey goaltender and current head coach of the Finnish women's national under-18 ice hockey team and Team Kuortane of the Naisten Liiga. During her playing career, she was a member of the ...

. Representing Finland she also won bronze medals at the

2010 4 Nations Cup The 2010 4 Nations Cup was an international women's ice hockey competition held in Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador from November 9 to November 13, 2010. Game ...

and the

2011 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2011 IIHF Women's World Championship was the 13th edition of the Women's Ice Hockey World Championship run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was held from April 16 to 25, 2011 in Zürich and Winterthur, Switzerland, and t ...

, and a silver medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

2011 Winter Universiade The XXV Winter Universiade, took place in Erzurum, Turkey between 27 January to 6 February. Erzurum is the city at the highest altitude in Turkey, at , and has over 320 cultural landmarks. Located in Eastern Anatolia Region, it is a city on the ...

Personal life

During her stay in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

in 2006, she learned the French language. She is multi-lingual and speaks Finnish, Swedish, German, English and French. In 2009, she obtained her

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in marketing from the

Helsinki School of Economics The Aalto University School of Business (; ), is the largest business school in Finland. Founded in 1911, it is the second oldest business school in Finland and one of the oldest business schools in the Nordic countries. The school became part of ...

. Her thesis examined the motivations of companies when sponsoring women’s sports, using ringette as a case study.

Honors and achievements

Ice hockey

Club competition * Silver Medal at the

2009–10 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup The 2009–10 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup was the sixth holding of the IIHF European Women's Champions Cup, IIHF European Women Champions Cup (EWCC). Tornado Moscow Region of the Russian Women's Hockey League won the tournament for the fi ...

with the Espoo Blues * Silver Medal in the

in 2010 with the Espoo Blues * Silver Medal in the Russian Championship in 2011 with SKIF Nizhny Novgorod * Silver Medal at the

2011–12 IIHF European Women's Champions Cup The 2011-12 IIHF European Women Champions Cup was the eighth playing of the IIHF European Women Champions Cup. Tornado Moscow Region of the Russian Women's Hockey League won the tournament for the second time in three seasons. First round The ...

with the ZSC Lions * Gold Medal in the Swiss Championship in 2012 with the ZSC Lions * Silver Medal at the

in 2012 with the ZSC Lions * EWHL Super Cup champion in 2013 with the ZSC Lions International competition * Bronze Medal at the

* Bronze Medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

* Silver Medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

* Bronze Medal at the

Ringette

* 3x Finnish Champion with Helsinki Ringette * Gold Medal in the

* Gold Medal in the

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanhatalo, Anna 1984 births Living people Espoo Blues Naiset players Finnish women's ice hockey goaltenders Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ringette players HC SKIF players Ice hockey people from Helsinki Winter World University Games medalists in ice hockey FISU World University Games silver medalists for Finland Competitors at the 2011 Winter Universiade European Women's Hockey League players 21st-century Finnish sportswomen