Riikka Sallinen is a four-time Olympian with the Finnish national team, despite a 10-year mid-career hiatus.Mikko Stig/The Associated Press
Riikka Sallinen is about to become the ninth female player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but the first from Europe, joining an elite group of women who all starred for Canada or the United States.
The Finnish player’s story is remarkable, but she won’t be at the famous Hall in downtown Toronto during Monday’s induction ceremony to tell it in person. She has a job that will keep her home in Europe instead of attending one of the most prestigious gatherings in hockey, on the night when her stellar career is being honoured.
Sallinen didn’t play in the biggest rivalry in the female game. Yet the four-time Olympian from Jyvaskyla, Finland is one of the scoring leaders in women’s international hockey, after a stint on the Finnish national team that spanned three decades.
Sallinen’s career on the international stage had two distinct chapters. The first lasted from 1989 to 2003, when she retired, began a career in health care and had three children. After a 10-year hiatus, she made a surprising comeback in 2013, rebuilt herself into an Olympian again and played six more years for Finland, while juggling motherhood plus her job.
The retired Finnish player has decided not to travel to Canada for the Hockey Hall of Fame festivities, as the Class of 2022 is honoured on Monday. Inductees include former NHLers Daniel Alfredsson, Roberto Luongo, plus Henrik and Daniel Sedin in the player category; and Herb Carnegie as a builder. While Sallinen said she’s honoured to be inducted, she will remain back in Europe with her patients.
Sallinen, 49, is a physical therapist who treats people with permanent disabilities caused by various disorders, such as cerebral palsy. Reached by phone in Sweden where she works, Sallinen said she didn’t want to leave her workplace short-staffed. They are trying to protect their patients and she didn’t want to chance bringing back an illness from travelling.
“Our patients, they are very [vulnerable], and I don’t want to take risks,” Sallinen said.
But it doesn’t diminish how she feels about being inducted into the Hockey Hall, and joining the other female inductees: Canadians Angela James, Geraldine Heaney, Danielle Goyette, Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Kim St-Pierre; and Americans Cammi Granato and Angela Ruggiero.
“Those eight North Americans, they are great players and I have played against all of them,” Sallinen said. “They were really dangerous, you had to keep your eye on them. Then if I think that I am now one of these great players, I am so grateful and honoured to be the first European player.”
Hefford, the five-time Olympic medalist who starred for Canada from 1997 through 2014, said Sallinen was always a player to watch. Any time the Finns made it uncomfortable for Canada – such as in a narrow semi-final at the 1997 worlds “Riikka was always one of the biggest reasons for it.”
“I think the most impressive thing obviously is her longevity and her ability to be one of the top players in the world, then take time away, come back and still be an impactful player,” Hefford said. “Canada and the U.S. are so well supported comparatively from a resource perspective … so it is quite impressive to be able to do what she did and compete at the highest level.”
Sallinen featured in many of the big firsts for women’s hockey, including the inaugural world championships in Ottawa in 1990, and the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Then known by her family name Riikka Nieminen, she amassed more points than anyone at the first Olympic tournament for women – seven goals and five assists in six games – helping Finland to bronze.
Sallinen made the world championship all-star team in 1992, 1994 and 1997. She was the leading scorer at the 1994 worlds in Lake Placid, N.Y., with 13 points, and chosen the tournament’s best forward. She led all scorers again at the 1997 worlds in Kitchener, Ont., with 10 points in five games.
While many of the best European women have gone on to play NCAA hockey at U.S colleges, Sallinen’s university years were just before that trend. She played with boys growing up, studied in Finland, and played in the top Finnish and Swedish women’s leagues of the day.
Sallinen suffered concussions and knee injuries throughout her career, and retired the first time in 2003. She focused on her physiotherapy job and had two sons and a daughter. She also worked as a manager for the Finnish women’s national team during the 2012-13 season, when some players joked with her about returning to play.
She ran the idea by a strength and conditioning coach. He said it was worth a try. They worked hard and succeeded. Late in 2013, she made Finland’s team for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, kicking off her next hockey chapter. That coach later admitted to her he had doubted it was possible.
“I think I surprised him,” Sallinen said. “And I surprised myself, too.”
She played on to a fourth Games at Pyeongchang in 2018. Helping Finland to bronze at 44, she become the oldest player to win an Olympic hockey medal, passing fellow Finn Teemu Selanne, who did it at 43.
Sallinen retired, after earning her seventh world-championship medal in 2019 – a cherished silver to add to her six bronze. She was an assistant captain for the Finnish squad that stunned Canada in the semis at the 2019 worlds before a raucous crowd in Espoo, Finland. The Finns made the final against the United States and it was a game for the ages. A controversial call in overtime overturned a Finnish golden goal and the Finns eventually lost to the Americans in a shootout. Still, it marked a significant day in women’s hockey – the first gold-medal final at a worlds that didn’t feature the two North American foes.
“We had our home ice and we had all of Finland cheering for us. I have played many years, and I had waited to be able to play in a gold-medal game,” Sallinen said. “There is such a gap between Finland and the North American countries, but it meant a lot for Finland and other European countries to see it is possible. It doesn’t happen that often, but it happened in 2019, and it could happen again some other day, too.”
At the time of her retirement in 2019, she was the highest-scoring European-born female player in the history of the Olympics and world championships. Sallinen has also been inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame (2007), the IIHF Hall of Fame (2010) and the Finnish Sports Hall of Fame (2020).
She hopes to be the first of many European women to get the call from the Hockey Hall as the female game keeps growing.
“I think there are more great players from Europe who for sure are going to be inducted,” Sallinen said. “No doubt about that.”