| Anni Montonen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 7 May 2000 Espoo, Finland | ||
| Height | 169 cm (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Shoots | Left | ||
| Auroraliiga team Former teams | Kiekko-Espoo HV71 Espoo Blues | ||
| National team |  Finland | ||
| Playing career | 2017–present | ||
Anni-Elina Montonen (born 7 May 2000) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team. She plays in the Auroraliiga with Kiekko-Espoo.
As a youth, Montonen developed in the minor ice hockey department of Jäähonka , an ice hockey club in her home-city of Espoo in Greater Helsinki on the south coast of Finland. [1] In 2015, she began playing with Blues EKS teams, which were the products of a partnership between the Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS) and Espoo Blues ice hockey clubs.
Montonen spent most of 2016–17 playing with the Blues EKS under-18 (U18) team in the B/C-tyttöjen aluesarja (lit. 'U18/U16 girls' regional series') and she led the team in scoring with 9 goals and 20 points in fourteen games. In the same season, she made her senior league debut with Blues EKS in the Naisten Suomi-sarja and tallied 3 goals and an assist in two games played with the team.
In the 2017–18 season, she led the B/C-tyttöjen aluesarja in goals and ranked second in the league for points, tallying 23 goals and 31 points in seventeen games. Montonen also played a single game each in the Naisten Liiga with the Espoo Blues and in the Naisten Suomi-sarja with Salo HT .
Her Naisten Liiga career began in earnest in the 2018–19 season, during which she played sixteen regular season games with the Espoo Blues, notching a goal and five assists, and won her first Aurora Borealis Cup with the team. The Espoo Blues were renamed as Kiekko-Espoo ahead of the 2019–20 Naisten Liiga season and Montonen remained on the roster through the transition.
Over the following four seasons with Kiekko-Espoo, she won two more Finnish Championships and made major strides in her development, increasing her point from just one assist across ten games during the 2019–20 season to 42 points (21+21) across 34 games of the 2022–23 season. [2] [3] Both her regular season goals and regular season points ranked tenth in the league for the 2022–23 season and she led all Kiekko-Espoo players in scoring.
Montonen entered her first international contract in June 2023, signing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with HV71, based in Jönköping, Sweden. [4] She joined a roster that also featured fellow Finnish national team players Sanni Hakala, Anni Keisala, Emmi Rakkolainen, and Kiira Yrjänen.
Montonen received her first invitation to play with the national team at age 22 and was selected to participate in every game of the 2022–23 Euro Hockey Tour. She recorded her first international point on a goal against Germany at the EHT Five Nations Tournament in Ängelholm, with assists from Jenna Kaila and Emmi Rakkolainen. [5] [6] The season culminated in her World Championship debut at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship, where she played on the fourth-line with Emmi Rakkolainen and Anna-Kaisa Antti-Roiko. [2] [7]
Kiekko-Espoo Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Auroraliiga. They play in the Tapiola district of Espoo, Finland at the harjoitusareena of the Tapiolan urheilupuisto. The team was founded as Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS) in 1989 and has also been known as Espoo Blues Naiset and Espoo United Naiset during its tenure in the Auroraliiga. Kiekko-Espoo have won the Aurora Borealis Cup as the Finnish Champions in women's ice hockey sixteen times, six more wins than any other team in league history; at least one Finnish Championship medal was won under each of the four names.
Minnamari "Minttu" Tuominen is a Finnish ice hockey player. She plays in the Auroraliiga with Kiekko-Espoo. A member of the Finnish national ice hockey team since 2008, she has earned medals at three Winter Olympic Games and five IIHF Women's World Championships.
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The Auroraliiga is the national premier league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982, it was known as the Naisten Liiga from 2017 until being rebranded as Auroraliiga in 2024. The league comprises approximately 225 players across nine teams.
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Naisten Mestis 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 top-tier national league was limited, the league was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012–13 season.
The 2019–20 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-seventh season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league’s establishment in 1982.
Sanni Rantala is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team. She is signed with Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) club Frölunda HC for the 2024–25 season.
Emmi Rakkolainen is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with HV71 Dam.
The 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-eighth season of the Naisten Liiga, 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 ice hockey league in Europe and, quite likely, in the world to return to play for the 2020–21 season.
The 2021 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs or the 2021 Naisten Liiga playoffs was the playoff tournament of the 2020–21 Naisten Liiga season. The Naisten Liiga playoffs began on 3 March and the Aurora Borealis Cup was awarded to Kiekko-Espoo, the 38th Finnish Champion in women's ice hockey, on 25 March.
The 2021–22 Naisten Liiga season was the thirty-ninth season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league's establishment as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982. The season began on 11 September 2021 and concluded on 20 March 2022.
The 2022 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs or the 2022 Naisten Liiga playoffs is the playoff tournament of the 2021–22 season of the Naisten Liiga. The tournament began on 26 March and the Aurora Borealis Cup was awarded to Kiekko-Espoo Naiset on 24 April.
The 2022–23 Naisten Liiga season was the fortieth season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league's establishment as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982. The regular season began on 10 September 2022 and concluded on 19 February 2023.
The 2023 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs or the 2023 Naisten Liiga playoffs is the postseason tournament of the 2022–23 season of the Naisten Liiga. The tournament began on 25 February and HIFK Helsinki were awarded the Aurora Borealis Cup on 21 March 2023.
The 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season is the forty-first season of the Naisten Liiga, the premier level of women's ice hockey in Finland, since the league's establishment as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982. The regular season began on 9 September 2023 and concluded on 18 February 2024. The playoffs began on 23 February 2024 and the Aurora Borealis Cup was awarded to HIFK Naiset on 21 March 2024.
The 2024 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs or the 2024 Naisten Liiga playoffs is the postseason tournament of the 2023–24 season of the Naisten Liiga. The tournament began on 23 February and the Aurora Borealis Cup was awarded to HIFK Helsinki on 21 March 2024.
Tiia Pajarinen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team. She plays in the Auroraliiga with Kiekko-Espoo.
The 2024–25 Auroraliiga season is the 42nd ice hockey season of the Auroraliiga. It is the first season since the league re-branded from Naisten Liiga, the name that had been in use since 2017, to Auroraliiga.