Kuortane is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 3,418 and covers an area of 484.88 square kilometres (187.21 sq mi) of which 22.72 km2 (8.77 sq mi) is water. The population density is 7.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (19/sq mi). The neighboring municipalities of Kuortane are Alajärvi, Alavus, Lapua and Seinäjoki. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Sanna Kristiina Lankosaari is a Finnish retired ice hockey player and current head coach of Oulun Kärpät Naiset in the Naisten Liiga (NSML). She was a right winger with the Finnish national ice hockey team during 1994 to 2003 and won bronze in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
Eveliina Mäkinen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently signed with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
Vilma Tanskanen is a Finnish retired ice hockey player. As a member of the Finnish national team, she won a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship and played in the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship and the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Meeri Räisänen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Connecticut Whale. As a member of the Finnish national team, she won Olympic bronze medals in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics and the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics, World Championship bronze medals in 2015 and 2021, and was named to the World Championship All-Star Team in 2015 and 2016.
Tiina Ranne is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender, currently playing with KalPa Kuopio of the Naisten Liiga and the Finnish national team. She previously played for Team Oriflame Kuortane, JYP Jyväskylä Naiset, and HPK Kiekkonaiset in the Naisten Liiga and its predecessor, the Naisten SM-sarja.
Ella Viitasuo is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently signed with HV71 Dam of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) for the 2022–23 season.
Petra Nieminen is a Finnish ice hockey player for Luleå HF/MSSK of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) and alternate captain of Finland women's national ice hockey team. She is considered one of the top young talents in Finnish ice hockey.
Anni Keisala is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently signed with HV71 Dam of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) for the 2022–23 season.
Satu Kiipeli is a Finnish ice hockey defenceman and coach, currently serving as assistant coach to Oulun Kärpät Akatemia in the Naisten Mestis. During her career with the Finnish national team, she represented Finland in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and at the IIHF Women's World Championships in 2001 and 2005.
Naisten Liiga, also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) and Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja in 1982, it was so known until being rebranded as the Naisten Liiga in 2017. The league comprises approximately 250 players across ten teams.
Team Kuortane is an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga, the premier women's hockey league in Finland. They are based at the Kuortaneen urheilulukio in Kuortane, a small town in South Ostrobothnia, and play at the Kuortaneen jäähalli. The team was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2010 as part of its initiative to develop the ice hockey skills of young women in Finland. Since its creation, approximately half of all national under-18 team rosters have been filled by players from Team Kuortane. For sponsorship reasons, the team was called Team Oriflame Kuortane during 2010 to 2014.
Oulun Kärpät Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga. 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 Raksilan harjoitusjäähalli, also called Raksila 2, of the Oulun Energia Areena. Ilves have won the Aurora Borealis Cup three times, in 2012, 2017, and 2018.
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.
Julia Liikala is a Finnish ice hockey winger and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Naisten Liiga (NSML) with HIFK Naiset.
Mira Huhta is a Finnish retired ice hockey player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team. She won a bronze medal while representing Finland at the 2011 IIHF Women's World Championship.
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 and its predecessor, the Naisten SM-sarja. It is named after Tuula Puputti, the first Olympic goaltender of the Finnish women's national team and current general manager of the Finnish women's national ice hockey program. Best goaltender in the Naisten SM-saija was first awarded in the 2005–06 season, to Maija Hassinen-Sullanmaa of Ilves Naiset. The award was named in honor of Tuula Puputti during the 2010–11 season.
Jenniina Nylund is a Finnish ice hockey centre and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, currently serving as captain of the St. Cloud State Huskies women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA Division I.
Sofianna Sundelin is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently committed to the St. Cloud State Huskies women's ice hockey program as an incoming freshman for the 2023–24 season.
Jari Risku is a Finnish ice hockey coach, currently serving as head coach of HPK Kiekkonaiset in the Naisten Liiga. He had a brief career as a professional ice hockey defenceman with Jokerit during 1984 to 1987, appearing in a total of 41 SM-liiga games across three seasons.
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