Minnamari "Minttu" Tuominen (; born 26 June 1990) 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. She plays in the

Auroraliiga 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 ...

(called Naisten Liiga until 2024) with

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 ...

. A member of the Finnish national ice hockey team since 2008, she has earned medals at three

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

and five

IIHF Women's World Championships The IIHF Women's World Championship is the premier international women's tournament in ice hockey. It is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The official world competition was first held in 1990, with four more champions ...

Playing career

Finland

Tuominen played for the

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 the Naisten SM-sarja (NSMs; rebranded as Naisten Liiga in 2017) and attended Makelanrinne Sports High School in Helsinki. At Makelanrinne, she captained the ice hockey team after being named one of the school's top athletes of 2007 and 2008. 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 ().

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 The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) were a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franc ...

of the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

(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. The PHF was bought out and dissolved in late June 2023 and her contract was terminated, prompting her return to Finland. Tuominen was selected in the fourteenth round, 84th overall by

PWHL Minnesota The Minnesota Frost are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that competes in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). They are one of the six charter franchises of the league. The team plays its home games at Xc ...

in the 2023 PWHL Draft. She was the second Finnish player to be drafted into the

Professional Women's Hockey League The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , LPHF) is a women's professional ice hockey league in North America. The league comprises eight teams, four each from the United States and Canada. The teams play a Season (sports), regular season ...

(PWHL), following

Susanna Tapani Susanna Jenni "Suski" Tapani (born 2 March 1993) is a Finnish multi-sport athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey. She plays professional ice hockey for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) a ...

, who was also selected by Minnesota. In August 2023, she signed with Kiekko-Espoo for the

2023–24 Naisten Liiga season The 2023–24 season was the forty-first season of the , the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league's establishment as the in 1982. The regular season began on 9 September 2023 and concluded on 18 February 2024. The p ...

, but her contract included the option to leave the team during the season. At the time, it was speculated that the provision was in place to allow Tuominen to play in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), a new North American league that replaced the PHF and began its first season in January 2024. Rather than joining the PWHL, Tuominen left Kiekko-Espoo mid-season for several months to join Shenzhen KRS for the inaugural season of the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey League (WCIHL). After winning the 2024 WCIHL championship with Shenzhen KRS, she returned to Kiekko-Espoo for the remainder of the Naisten Liiga regular season and playoffs.

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 in September, the 2008 Four Nations Cup in November, and helping Finland win the

Euro Hockey Tour The Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) is an annual ice hockey tournament open to only the national men's teams of the Czech national ice hockey team, Czech Republic, Finnish national men's ice hockey team, Finland, Switzerland men's national ice hockey tea ...

in December. She was a member of the bronze medal-winning Finnish team at the

2009 Winter Universiade The 2009 Winter Universiade, the XXIV Winter Universiade took place in Harbin, China. Student athletes from 44 countries took part in the games. Selection Harbin was selected by FISU on January 10, 2005 over future 2011 Winter Universiade host c ...

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

, China and played at the 2009 MLP Nations Cup in

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...

, Germany. Tuominen won a bronze medal at the

2010 Four 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 from November 9 to November 13, 2010. Games were played at the Clarenville Event ...

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Amer ...

, Canada. Her first major

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF) tournament with the Finnish national team was 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 ...

, where she won her first Olympic bronze medal. At 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 ...

, she recorded her first point at a major IIHF tournament – the primary assist on

Annina Rajahuhta Annina Rajahuhta (born 8 March 1989) is a Finnish retired ice hockey forward, currently serving as co-head coach of the Kiekko-Espoo girl's under-16 and under-18 teams. She played ten seasons with the Finnish national team, winning bronze medals ...

's goal against in the preliminary round – and her first major tournament goal, scoring twice against 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 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and bronze medals in

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 ...

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 ...

, and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. She was selected as a top-three player for Finland by the coaches at the 2015 tournament.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuominen, Minttu 1990 births Living people Espoo Blues Naiset players Finnish women's ice hockey defencemen FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Finland Ice hockey people from Helsinki Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Kiekko-Espoo Naiset players Linköping HC (women) players Medalists at the 2009 Winter Universiade Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Metropolitan Riveters players Naisten Liiga All-Stars Ohio State Buckeyes women's ice hockey players Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays players Winter World University Games medalists in ice hockey 21st-century Finnish sportswomen