Marianne Ihalainen

Marianne Ihalainen (born 22 February 1967) is a retired Finnish ice hockey forward.[1] She won a bronze medal as captain of the Finnish national team at the 1998 Winter Olympics[2] and also won six IIHF World Women's Championship bronze medals, four IIHF European Women Championships gold medals and one bronze while representing Finland and was eight time SM-sarja Finnish Champion with Ilves. Ihalainen is regarded as one of the pioneers of women’s ice hockey in Finland and she was one of the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Finland, alongside fellow trailblazer Riikka Sallinen.[3]

Marianne Ihalainen
Born	February 22, 1967 Tampere, Finland
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb; 10 st 10 lb)
Position	Forward
Shot	Right
Played for	Tampereen Ilves
National team	Finland
Playing career	1982–2001
Medal record Women's ice hockey Representing  Finland Olympic Games 1998 Nagano Team World Championships 2000 Canada 1999 Finland 1997 Canada 1994 United States 1992 Finland 1990 Canada European Championship 1995 Latvia 1993 Denmark 1991 Czechoslovakia 1989 West Germany 1996 Russia

After her retirement from playing in 2001, Ihalainen coached the Ilves women’s team during 2002–2006 and led the team to victory in the 2006 SM-sarja Finnish Championship.[4] In 2006, she became the head coach and team manager of the Finnish national team. Under Ihalainen coaching, the Finnish national team won bronze medals at the 2008 and 2009 IIHF Women's World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.[3]

At a ceremony held during the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship in Espoo, she became the first woman to have her career formally honoured by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.[5]

Awards and honours

Finland Award Year Most goals scored in the Naisten SM-sarja regular season later renamed the Tiia Reima Award 1989–90 (21 goals) Most points earned in the Naisten SM-sarja regular season later renamed the Marianne Ihalainen Award 1989–90 (33 points) Suomen Jääkiekkoleijona Hockey Hall of Fame Finland 2007 Number retired by the Tampereen Ilves 2007 Career honoured by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association 13 April 2019[5]

International Award Year Winter Olympic bronze medal 1998 IIHF Women's World Championship bronze medal 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 IIHF European Women Championship gold medal 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995 IIHF European Women Championship bronze medal 1996

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Marianne Ihalainen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Finland Ice Hockey at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
3. "Jääkiekkoleijonat" (in Finnish). Hockey Hall of Fame Finland. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
4. "Ilves Hockey Legends". ilveshistoria.com (in Finnish). Ilves-Hockey Oy. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
5. "Marianne Ihalainen to be honoured". IIHF. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2020.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com