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Anna Vanhatalo

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Anna Vanhatalo
Personal information
Born (1984-02-29) 29 February 1984 (age 40)
Helsinki, Finland
Years active2002–c. 2013
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Ice hockey career
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for ZSC Lions
SKIF Nizhny Novgorod
Espoo Blues
National team  Finland
Playing career 2009–c. 2013
Sport
CountryFinland
SportRingette
PositionGoaltender
CatchesLeft
Team
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Vancouver Ice hockey
IIHF Women's World Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Switzerland
Universiade
Silver medal – second place 2011 Erzurum Ice hockey
Ringette
World Ringette Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Stockholm
Gold medal – first place 2007 Ottawa

Anna Vanhatalo (born 29 February 1984) is a Finnish retired ice hockey and ringette player and former member of the Finnish national ice hockey team and the Finnish national ringette team. Representing Finland, she won a bronze medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In 2004 and 2007, she won gold in the World Ringette Championships.

Ringette career

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Vanhatalo made her goaltending debut in the premier Finnish ringette league, the Ringeten SM-sarja [fi], at age 18 in 2002. She was a member of the Finnish national ringette team in 2004 and 2007. Vanhatalo won two World Ringette Championships gold medals, one in the 2004 World Ringette Championships held in Stockholm, where she was elected the best goaltender of the tournament, and the other gold medal in the 2007 World Ringette Championships held in Ottawa.[1][2]

In 2006, Vanhatalo went to Canada to play one season for the Montreal Mission in the National Ringette League.[3] In exchange, her Finnish team, Helsinki Ringette, received Montreal Mission goalkeeper Claudia Jetté.[4][5]

Ice hockey career

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Vanhatalo began playing ice hockey at age 25 in 2009, joining the powerhouse Espoo Blues Naiset in Finland’s top league, the Naisten SM-sarja, as their starting goaltender.[6] Her first ice hockey season was a resounding success, she recorded a magnificent .952 save percentage across ten games played in the regular season and backstopped the team to silver medals in the Finnish Championship and the 2010 European Women's Champions Cup. Her performance earned the Tuula Puputti Award in 2010, recognizing her as the Naisten SM-sarja Goaltender of the Year.

The following season, Vanhatalo signed alongside Finnish national team teammate Karoliina Rantamäki as the only expatriates with SKIF Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Women's Hockey League.[7] Undaunted by the international relocation, Vanhatalo played as the backup to starter Valentina Ostrovlyanchik and maintained her stellar-caliber statistics, ending the season with a .949 save percentage and a solid 1.36 goals against average (GAA) in eight games played.

Unable to continue playing with SKIF due to restrictions placed by the RWHL on the number of import players per team, she opted to play the 2011–12 season in the Swiss Women's Hockey League A (SWHL A) with the ZSC Lions Frauen based in Zürich. Though she split the goal with Canadian-Swiss goaltender Vanessa Clavadetscher during the SWHL A season, she was the starting netminder for the EWHL Super Cup in 2012 and the 2012 European Women's Champions Cup, backstopping the team to silver medal finishes in both tournaments.

Vanhatalo did not play ice hockey in the 2012–13 regular season but she returned to the starting role with the ZSC Lions for the EWHL Super Cup in 2013, contributing a magnificent .970 save percentage and 0.79 GAA to the team’s first Super Cup victory. She was also the team’s starter for the 2013 European Women's Champions Cup, at which the Lions placed fourth.

International play

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Vanhatalo was selected to the Finnish Olympic team in her first season playing ice hockey. She won a bronze medal in the women’s ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics while serving as third goaltender behind starter Noora Räty and backup Mira Kuisma.[8] Representing Finland she also won bronze medals at the 2010 4 Nations Cup and the 2011 IIHF Women's World Championship, and a silver medal in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2011 Winter Universiade.[9]

Personal life

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During her stay in Quebec in 2006, she learned the French language. She is multi-lingual and speaks Finnish, Swedish, German, English and French.

In 2009, she obtained her MBA in marketing from the Helsinki School of Economics. Her thesis examined the motivations of companies when sponsoring women’s sports, using ringette as a case study.[10]

Honors and achievements

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Ice hockey

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Club competition

International competition

Ringette

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Ringette Championship 2004 – Gold Medal Game – Finland vs Canada" (PDF). Ringette.cc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Meilleures gardiennes de but – 2007 World Championships - Moyenne de buts contre" (in French). Ringette Canada. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  3. ^ "35 Anna Vanhatalo (G) – Montreal Mission". National Ringette League. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  4. ^ "SM-joukkueen kokoonpano kaudella 2006-2007". Helsinki Ringette (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. ^ Jetté, Claudia (23 December 2006). "hyvää päivää !". J'aime la ringuette (in French). Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Naisleijonien maalivahti aloitti jääkiekon syksyllä". MTV3 (in Finnish). 13 January 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Cостав команды "СКИФ": Анна Ванхатало - #30". HC SKIF (in Russian). 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Ice Hockey, women". Finnish Olympic Committee. 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Anna Vanhatalo profile - Анна Ванhатало Профиль". Eurohockey.com. 29 February 1984. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  10. ^ Vanhatalo, Anna (16 October 2008). "Naisurheilun sponsoroinnin motiivit -Tapaustutkimuksena ringett" (PDF). Aalto University (Thesis) (in Finnish). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
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