Matilda Nilsson

Matilda Nilsson (born 2 March 1997) is a Finnish ice hockey player, currently playing with KalPa Naiset of the Naisten Liiga and with the Finnish national team.

Matilda Nilsson
Born (1997-03-02) 2 March 1997
Kirkkonummi, Uusimaa, Finland[1]
Height 164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position Wing
Shoots Left
Liiga team
Former teams		 KalPa Kuopio
KJT Haukat
National team  Finland
Playing career 2010–present

Playing career

Nilsson grew up in Kirkkonummi, a municipality in the western Greater Helsinki region, where she began playing ice hockey at age 5. Her youth club was HC Salamat and she played on boys’ teams throughout her childhood until age 16. Regarding the experience, she has said, "I am so grateful that I got to play in boys. The differences [from women's hockey] can be seen in the physicality and doggedness. A different kind of hockey intelligence came from the games."[2]

While playing with the Salamat boys’ teams, she also joined the women’s representative team of Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT) in Kerava and made her senior debut at age 13, in the 2010–11 season of the Naisten Suomi-sarja, the third-tier women's league in Finland. She played 11 games in the qualification series, contributing 15 points (7 goals + 8 assists) as the team gained promotion to the second-tier Naisten I-divisioona (renamed Naisten Mestis in 2012).

Remaining with the club in the following season, she ranked third on the team for scoring across the regular season and qualifiers, with 23 points in 20 games. In the 2012–13 Mestis season, she nearly registered two points per game, with 44 points (26+19) in 23 games, ranking third of KJT players and fifth in the league overall. Nilsson’s performance, in addition to phenomenal seasons posted by many KJT players, most notably Noora Tulus (77 points), Tinja Haukijärvi (45 points), and Emmi Rakkolainen (41 points), helped the team gain promotion yet again, this time to the top-tier Naisten SM-sarja (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017).

International play

Nilsson played with the Finnish national U18 team at the 2014 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, where Finland placed fifth.[3]

At sixteen, Nilsson was invited to join the senior national team but was committed to other hobbies at the time and did not choose to pursue the opportunity.

She represented Finland at the 2018 4 Nations Cup and at several Euro Hockey Tour tournaments in the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons.[4][5][6]

Nilsson was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, before the tournament was cancelled on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns related to COVID-19.[7][8]

Personal life

Nilsson and her family are Swedish-Finns, a culturally distinct group of people born in Finland speaking Swedish as their first language.

While playing with Salamat Kirkkonumi during the 2002–03 and 2003–04 Mestis seasons, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Hayley Wickenheiser lived with the Nilsson family. Nilsson recalls "following her everywhere" as a five year old, watching what Wickenheiser did at the rink and in the locker room and adopting those habits, some of which have stuck with Nilsson into her senior career. The two women continue to communicate on a regular basis and Nilsson describes Wickenheiser as having played a significant role in her career.[2]

Former NHLer Teemu Selänne, who was a partial owner of HC Salamat until 2006, is also a family friend of the Nilsson's and further inspired Nilsson to pursue hockey.[2]

Outside of hockey, Nilsson works as a classroom assistant at a kindergarten in Kuopio. She has plans to study nursing in the future.[9]

Nilsson is in a relationship with footballer Nea Aho, who most recently played with Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS) in the 2019 season of the Naisten Liiga (renamed Kansallinen Liiga in 2020). The couple planned to relocate to Sweden in the summer of 2020 so Nilsson could sign with a Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) team but they altered course and chose to remain in Finland as the COVID-19 pandemic created uncertainty and other challenges.[9]

Career statistics

Regular season and postseason
    Regular season   Postseason
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2010–11 KJT Suomi-sarja 3 0 2 2 0 11 7 8 15 6
2011–12 KJT 1-div. 9 11 4 15 2 11 5 3 8 2
2012–13 KJT Mestis 13 17 14 31 4 10 9 4 13 6
2013–14 KJT SM-sarja 27 13 10 23 16 10* 9* 10* 19* 4*
2014–15 KalPa SM-sarja 28 24 10 34 16 3 0 2 2 0
2015–16 KalPa SM-sarja 28 21 5 26 12 2 1 1 2 0
2016–17 KalPa SM-sarja 25 17 17 34 18 9 5 4 9 2
2017–18 KalPa Liiga 27 21 18 39 20 4 1 1 2 4
2018–19 KalPa Liiga 30 39 35 74 16 8 6 5 11 10
2019–20 KalPa Liiga 29 23 31 54 34 8 5 2 7 4
Naisten Liiga totals 194 158 126 284 132 34 18 15 33 20

* Postseason results for the 2013–14 season are from the qualification series (Finnish: Karsintasarja) rather than the playoffs and are not calculated with playoff totals.

Sources: Finnish Ice Hockey Association,[10] Elite Prospects[11]

International
Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2014 Finland WC18 5th 5 2 3 5 0
2018 Finland 4NC 3rd 4 1 0 1 4
Junior totals 5 2 3 5 0
Senior totals 4 1 0 1 4

Sources: IIHF,[12] Hockey Canada[13]

Awards and honors
Award Year
Naisten Liiga
First All-Star Team 2015, 2020
Second All-Star Team 2018, 2019
Player of the Month September 2019
Sari Fisk Award 2020

References
  1. "Naisten SM-sarjan kenttäpelaajarekisteri 1982–2019" (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  2. Teiskonlahti, Kirsi (12 February 2019). "Naiskiekon Gretzkyn pelaaminen Suomessa oli yhdelle viisivuotiaalle jättipotti: Matilda Nilsson seurasi esikuvaansa aamusta iltaan ja haluaa tulevaisuudessa olla yhtä suuri tähti". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  3. "Player Profile: Matilda Nilsson". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  4. "Euro Hockey Tour 23.-25.8.2018, CZE: Kokoonpanot". tilastopalvelu.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  5. "Women's Ice Hockey Rosters: Finland, 2018 4 Nations Cup". Hockey Canada. 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  6. Mennander, Pasi (27 January 2020). "Naisleijonat Euro Hockey Tourin finaaliturnaukseen tällä joukkueella". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  7. Malmberg, Henna (4 March 2020). "Naisleijonien MM-joukkue valittu – Sukupolven vaihdos tuo MM-joukkueeseen seitsemän ensikertalaista". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  8. Steiss, Adam (7 March 2020). "Women's Worlds cancelled". IIHF. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  9. Sirkkiä-Jarva, Sari (27 September 2020). "Koronakevät murskasi lähes kaikki Matilda Nilssonin haaveet – savolaistunut suomenruotsalainen sisuuntui takaiskuista: "Olen päättänyt, että sinne minne haluan, sinne myös pääsen"". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  10. "Pelaajakortti: Matilda Nilsson". leijonat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  11. "Player Profile: Matilda Nilsson". EliteProspects.com. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  12. "IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship – Player Statistics by Team: FIN - Finland" (PDF). stats.iihf.com. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  13. "2018 4 Nations Cup – Player Statistics". Hockey Canada. 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com

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