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| Born | June 12, 1973 | ||||||
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Riikka Nieminen-Välilä (born June 12, 1973 in Jyväskylä, Länsi-Suomen lääni, Finland) is a retired Finnish female ice hockey player. She played on the Finnish women's national team most notably appearing at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Olympics winning a bronze medal during the 1998 games.[1] Nieminen-Välilä was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame on 21 May 2010 in Cologne, Germany, as part of the World Championship festivities. She was only the fourth woman to receive this honor.[2]
Riikka Nieminen-Välilä represented Finland in three IIHF Women’s European Championships, four IIHF World Women’s Championships, and two Olympics. It was during her first Olympics in 1998 that she would lead the tournament in scoring amassing 12 points (7 goals & 5 assists) in six games, while leading the Finnish team to the Bronze Medal. Nieminen-Välilä would also lead the Finnish national team to three European Championship titles and four IIHF World Women’s Championship bronze medals. Over her international career she would score 109 goals, 95 assists for 204 points while accumulating only 24 PIMs.[3]