The Katja Riipi Award () is an

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 ...

trophy, seasonally awarded by the

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (, ) is the sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Finland. Since the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage and, , the Finland men's national ice hockey t ...

to the best

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

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 ...

, previously the ''Naisten SM-sarja''. Best forward in the Naisten Liiga was first awarded in the 2005–06 season, to

Saara Niemi Saara Elisa Niemi (born 1 January 1986) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former player. She has served as head coach of IFK Helsinki in the Auroraliiga since 2018, and as an assistant coach to the Finnish national team since 2021. At the 20 ...

(). The award was named in honor of

Katja Riipi Katja Hannele Riipi (born 26 October 1975) is a Finnish retired ice hockey player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team. She won an Olympic bronze medal representing Finland in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 ...

during the 2010–11 season. Ten players have won the award and, of the ten, three have won it more than once. Young phenom

Elisa Holopainen Elisa Holopainen (born 27 December 2001) is a Finnish ice hockey winger for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) and member of the Finnish national team. Holopainen represented Finland in the women's ice hockey tournament ...

, a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, is the current title holder and has won the award in each of the past six seasons, making her the first player to win the award more than two consecutive times. Holopainen's win in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

broke the four-win record first set by

Linda Leppänen Linda Leppänen née Välimäki (born 31 May 1990) is a Finnish retired ice hockey forward and coach. Representing , she won bronze medals at the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 and 2018 and at the IIHF Women's World Championships in 2015 and 2017 ...

(). Leppänen, a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, first won the trophy in the 2009–10 season, while playing with

Ilves Tampere Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was the ...

– the team she would later coach during 2020 to 2022. Her later three titles were awarded while playing with the

Kiekko-Espoo Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they were promoted for the 2024–25 Liiga season, 20 ...

franchise, winning consecutive trophies in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, when the team was called the Espoo Blues, and in the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, when the team was called Espoo United.

Anne Helin Anne Helin (born 28 January 1987) is a Finnish retired ice hockey player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team. Representing Finland, she won a bronze medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics i ...

, who won the trophy in the 2010–11 season and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, is the only other player to have been awarded the Katja Riipi Award more than once.

Award winners

All-time award recipients

References