Susanna Tapani

Susanna "Suski" Tapani (born 2 March 1993) is a Finnish multi-sport elite athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey. A member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and Finnish national ringette team, she currently plays professional ice hockey in the Russian Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke Rays.[1]

Susanna Tapani
Born (1993-03-02) 2 March 1993
Laitila, Finland
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 65 kg (143 lb; 10 st 3 lb)
Position Forward
Shoots Left
ZhHL team
Former teams		 KRS Vanke Rays
National team  Finland
Playing career 2011–present
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Olympic Games
2018 PyeongchangIce hockey
2022 BeijingIce hockey
World Championship
2019 Finland
2011 Switzerland
2015 Sweden
2017 United States
2021 Canada
Ringette
World Championship
2010 Finland
2016 Finland
2017 Canada
2019 Canada

Tapani is the subject of a Finnish documentary, Jäänsärkijä ('Icebreaker'), which follows her life as she competes in elite ringette, ice hockey, and in-line hockey from 2015 to 2019.[2]

Ice hockey career

Tapani has played ice hockey in the Naisten Liiga with TPS Naiset, Lukko Naiset, Espoo Blues Naiset, and HPK Kiekkonaiset; in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Linköping HC Dam; and with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks women's ice hockey program during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season.[3]

Tapani trained with a number of men's professional ice hockey players during the extended pause between the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons due to COVID-19. Under the direction of Ismo Lehkonen, the group – which included NHLers Kaapo Kako, Artturi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen, and Rasmus Ristolainen, and a number of Liiga players – trained on ice together for two hours a day. Jonne Virtanen, long-time Liiga player and member of the training group, noted that Tapani's strength and toughness would be well suited to a style of play that permitted checking and enthused, "Suski is the best female player that I have ever seen."[4]

During the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons, Tapani played with the TPS Juniorijääkiekko men's under-18 (U18) team, known as TPS U18 Akatemia, of the U18 Mestis/U18 Suomi-sarja until scheduling conflicts forced her to choose between ringette and ice hockey in November 2020.[5] When it became clear that the TPS U18 Akatemia was unable or unwilling to alter its schedule to accommodate Tapani, she chose to leave the team and continue playing ringette with RNK Raisio of the Finnish Championship ringette league, the Ringeten SM-sarja, which is the ringette team she captains. Regarding the situation, Tapani stated, "I’m not commenting on the discussions [with TPS] or the way this came to be, but combining the two sports didn’t fit when there were too many overlapping games."[6]

International play

Tapani made three appearances with the Finnish women's national under-18 ice hockey team at the IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, winning a bronze medal at the 2011 tournament.[7][8][9]

As of 2020, Tapani ranks sixth in all-time points scored with the Finnish women's national team, tallying 75 goals and 72 assists for 147 points in 179 top division matches.[10] She has represented Finland at every IIHF Women's World Championship since 2011, except the 2016 tournament.[11][12][13][14][15] At the 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship, she was Finland’s leading scorer and ranked fifth for scoring in the tournament overall with 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points in 5 games.[16]

Tapani has also competed with the Finnish national team at the Winter Olympic Games, debuting in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Though Finland suffered their worst Olympic placement in team history, finishing in fifth place, Tapani saw individual success and tied teammate Riikka Välilä for third rank on the Finnish scoring list, with 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points in six games.[17] In the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Finland won bronze and Tapani finished fourth in the team’s scoring ranks, with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in six games.[18] The women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing saw Tapani take another step in offensive production, ranking first on the team in scoring with 6 goals and 2 assists for 8 points in seven games, and leading Finland to another bronze medal victory.[19][20]

In 2021, Finnish national ice hockey team head coach Pasi Mustonen called Tapani the team’s best forward among a roster which also included internationally recognized forwards Michelle Karvinen and Petra Nieminen.[4]

Regular season and playoffs

Note: Italics indicate postseason relegation series; statistics not included in playoff totals.

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2009-10 LaJy U16 U16 II-divisioona 22 28 22 50 10 — — — — —
2010-11 LaJy U16 U16 II-divisioona 2 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
2010-11 LaJy U18 U18 III-divisioona 9 5 8 13 2 — — — — —
2011-12 LaJy U18 U18 II-divisioona 11 9 13 22 2 — — — — —
2011-12 HPK Naisten SM-sarja 4 2 2 4 6 4 2 1 3 0
2012-13 Kiekko-67 U18 U18 Suomi-sarja 6 4 2 6 0 — — — — —
2012-13 Espoo Blues Naisten SM-sarja 3 0 2 2 2 5 2 1 3 2
2013-14 UND Fighting Hawks NCAA 24 8 12 20 12 — — — — —
2014-15 HPK Naisten SM-sarja 8 6 4 10 10 6 7 14 21 2
2015-16 HPK Naisten SM-sarja 5 4 3 7 0 8 4 4 8 2
2016-17 Lukko Naisten SM-sarja 10 5 4 9 2 5 10 5 15 4
2017-18 Lukko Naisten Liiga 7 5 4 9 6 — — — — —
2018-19 TPS Naisten Liiga 16 24 8 32 14 — — — — —
2018-19 Linköping HC SDHL — — — — — 10 4 3 7 2
2019-20 TPS U18 U18 Suomi-sarja 16 5 10 15 2 — — — — —
2019-20 TPS Naisten Liiga — — — — — 1 0 2 2 4
2020-21 TPS U18 U18 Mestis 1 0 2 2 0 — — — — —
2020-21 KRS Vanke Rays ZhHL — — — — — 3 1 2 3 0
Naisten Liiga totals 53 46 27 73 40 23 15 20 35 6

International
Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2009 Finland U18 WW18 5th 5 3 0 3 0
2010 Finland U18 WW18 5th 5 2 1 3 4
2011 Finland U18 WW18 6 4 2 6 33
2011 Finland WW 6 1 2 3 4
2012 Finland WW 4th 6 1 0 1 2
2013 Finland WW 4th 6 0 0 0 2
2014 Finland OG 5th 6 1 4 5 2
2015 Finland WW 6 1 2 3 2
2017 Finland WW 6 3 6 9 2
2018 Finland OG 6 2 3 5 4
2019 Finland WW 7 4 2 6 10
2021 Finland WW 7 3 2 5 6
2022 Finland OG 7 6 2 8 0
Junior totals 16 9 3 12 37
Senior totals 63 22 23 45 34

Source: [21][20]

Ringette career

Tapani began playing ringette as a child has severed as captain of the Raision Nuorisokiekko (RNK) Flyers representative ringette team in the Ringeten SM-sarja (RSMs), the top ringette league in Finland, for many years.

International play

Tapani played ringette for Team Finland at the World Ringette Championships in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2019, winning gold at each tournament.

Year Team Event Result
2013 Finland U19 WRC
2016 Finland WRC
2017 Finland WRC
2019 Finland WRC

References
  1. "Две россиянки, трое призёров ЧМ-2021: «КРС Ванке Рэйз» обновили состав". Женская хоккейная лига (in Russian). 3 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. Aykroyd, Lucas (4 April 2020). "Best women's hockey documentaries". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 26 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Dodds, David L. (January 2014). "UND's 'dynamo dozen' headed to the Olympic Games". UND Today. Retrieved 7 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Teiskonlahti, Kirsi (8 April 2021). "Tukalaan tilanteeseen joutunut Susanna Tapani pääsi kovaan treeniseuraan – kyykytti NHL-pelaajaa ja voitti kaksinkamppailussa 118-kiloisen Jonne Virtasen". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 24 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Karttunen, Anu (2 November 2020). "Naisleijonien huipputykki Susanna Tapani joutui tylyyn tilanteeseen: joutuu etsimään itselleen uuden joukkueen". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 7 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. Jalonen, Pekka (2 November 2020). "Susanna Tapani valitsi ringeten, ei saa enää pelata TPS:ssa: "Aiheutti pahaa verta"". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 26 July 2021. En kommentoi keskusteluja tai tapaa miten tähän päädyttiin, mutta kahden lajin yhdistäminen ei sopinut, kun pelejä oli liikaa päällekkäin.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. IIHF – Team Finland Stats – 2009 U-18 World Championship
  8. IIHF – Team Finland Stats – 2010 U-18 World Championship
  9. IIHF – Team Finland Stats – 2011 U-18 World Championship
  10. Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto; Jääkiekkon SM-liiga Oy (2020). Aaltonen, Juha (ed.). Jääkiekkokirja 2021: Suomen Jääkiekkoliiton ja Liiga Kausijulkaisu 2020–2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Uusi Suomi/Kiekkolehti. p. 321. ISSN 0784-3321. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  11. IIHF (2011). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2012. Fenn/M&S. p. 557. ISBN 978-0-7710-9598-6.
  12. https://reports.iihf.hockey/Hydra/252/IHW2520FIN_83_6_0.pdf%5B%5D IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2011 World Championship]]
  13. IIHF - Team Finland Stats - 2012 World Championship
  14. IIHF – Team Finland Stats – 2013 World Championship Archived 31 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  15. 2015 IIHF World Championship roster Archived 13 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  16. "2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship – Scoring Leaders" (PDF). IIHF. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. IIHF – Team Finland Stats – 2014 Olympics
  18. "PeyongChang 2018 – Ice Hockey, Women – Scoring Leaders" (PDF). IIHF. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. "Beijing 2022 – Athletes: Susanna TAPANI, Ice Hockey". Olympics.com. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  20. "Beijing 2022 – Ice Hockey, Women – Player Statistics by Team: FIN - Finland" (PDF). IIHF. 16 February 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  21. Podnieks, Andrew; Nordmark, Birger, eds. (2019). IIHF Guide & Record Book 2020. Toronto: Moydart. p. 663. ISBN 9780986796470.
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