Meeri raisanen biography

Meeri Räisänen (born 2 December 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing with Gladiators HT in the.
Date of BirthDec 02, 1989 · Age35 · Place of BirthTampere, FIN · Nation.
Meeri Räisänen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing with Gladiators HT in the II-divisioona, the fourth-tier men's national league in Finland.

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DATEDECMINSECSAVESSHOTSSCOREOTSOUTOPPLOCGOALTENDERSSUBSTITUTIONNOTES Played for Finland at 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship (Malmo, Sweden). 03/28/2015 W 65 0 13 15 3-2 SO 4/4 Russia Road Tarakanova 03/29/2015 L 60 0 49 53 1-4 / United States Home Rigsby, Schaus, Rigsby 03/31/2015 2-6 / Canada Home Lacasse 04/03/2015 L 56 27 40 43 0-3 / Canada Home Desbiens Semifinals 04/04/2015 W 60 0 21 22 4-1 / Russia Road Sorokina Bronze Medal Game Played for Finland at 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship (Kamloops, British Columbia). 03/28/2016 W 60 0 22 25 5-3 / Russia Home Morozova 03/29/2016 L 60 0 49 51 1-2 / United States Road Vetter 03/31/2016 L 40 0 27 32 1-6 / Canada Home Maschmeyer Replaced by Keisala 04/03/2016 L 56 7 34 37 3-5 / Canada Home Labont

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Meeri Räisänen

Finnish ice hockey goaltender

Ice hockey player

Meeri Räisänen (born 2 December 1989) is a Finnish ice hockeygoaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently^[update] playing with Gladiators HT in the II-divisioona (2-div.), the fourth-tier men's national league in Finland. With the Finnish national team, she has won two Olympic bronze medals, two World Championship bronze medals, and has twice been named to the World Championship All-Star Team.

Playing career

According to her parents, Räisänen wasn’t satisfied with watching her older brother practice ice hockey at the Koulukatu open-air ice rink in their home city of Tampere, and instead hung on the boards and shouted that she wanted to go out on the ice until there was no alternative but to put skates on her feet and let her join in. She began playing with the youth section of the ice sports club Tappara in Tampere and became committed to goaltending by the age of nine. Crowded out of a goalie position on the club’s top hockey team for her age group, she switched to ringette

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Meeri Räisänen seeing success in her return to women’s hockey

Meeri Räisänen had a choice.

She could continue down the path she helped forge and keep playing with men in the third-tier Suomi-Sarja league. Or, she could return to women’s hockey and bolster her chances at earning a roster spot at the PyeongChang Olympics in February. She chose the latter.

Räisänen signed with HPK Hämeenlinna and became the first goaltender to record a Naisten Liiga victory on September 16, 2017. She made 58 saves and earned HPK’s best player of the game honors. She also recently became the first Naisten Liiga Player of the Month, chosen by league representatives.

Räisänen, 27, made history when she became the third woman to play men’s hockey in Finland, after Hayley Wickenheiser and her Naisleijonat teammate Noora Räty. A special arrangement with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association allowed her to play with both men and women starting in 2015. That season she played nine games with the men’s D-Kiekko, then joined the women’s JYP for their playoff run all the way to an Aurora Borealis Cup victory.