Nelli Laitinen (born 29 April 2002) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team. She is signed to play college ice hockey with the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA Division I as an incoming freshman for the 2022–23 season.[1]
Nelli Laitinen | |||||||||||||||||||
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Born |
(2002-04-29) 29 April 2002 (age 20) Lohja, Finland | ||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||
Position | Defense | ||||||||||||||||||
Shoots | Left | ||||||||||||||||||
NCAA team Former teams |
Minnesota Golden Gophers Kiekko-Espoo KJT Kerava | ||||||||||||||||||
National team |
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Playing career | 2017–present | ||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Laitinen represented Finland at the IIHF Women's World Championships in 2019 and 2021.[2][3] As a junior player with the Finnish national under-18 team, she participated in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.[4]
As a junior player with the Finnish national under-18 team, she participated in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.[5]
Laitinen made her senior national team debut at the 2018 4 Nations Cup in Saskatoon, Canada, where she contributed one assist in four games to Finland's bronze medal victory.[6][7] Later that season, she represented Finland at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship.[8] At sixteen years old, she was the youngest player on the team and 29 years younger than Finland's eldest player, Riikka Sallinen.[9] She recorded one assist in seven games as Finland won the first World Championship silver medal in team history.[10]
She won bronze medals representing Finland at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.[11]
Laitinen's older brother, Villi (born 1999), plays ice hockey professionally as a defenseman with Lukko in the Finnish Liiga.
At a pre-Olympic press conference in January 2022, she confirmed that she was in a relationship with NHL player Jesperi Kotkaniemi.[12]
Naisten SM-sarja was rebranded as Naisten Liiga in 2017. Espoo Blues renamed as Kiekko-Espoo in 2019.
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
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Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
2016–17 | HAKI | Naisten Mestis | 8 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
2016–17 | HAKI | Naisten Suomi-sarja | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
2016–17 | KJT (L) | Naisten SM-sarja | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
2017–18 | HAKI U16 | U16 Mestis | 18 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
2017–18 | Espoo Blues | Naisten Liiga | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
2017–18 | KJT (L) | Naisten Liiga | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
2018–19 | Espoo Blues | Naisten Liiga | 27 | 12 | 27 | 39 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | ||
2019–20 | Kiekko-Espoo | Naisten Liiga | 28 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 6 | ||
2020–21 | Kiekko-Espoo | Naisten Liiga | 24 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 | ||
2021–22 | Kiekko-Espoo | Naisten Liiga | 23 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 8 | ||
Naisten Liiga totals | 117 | 41 | 100 | 141 | 54 | 46 | 16 | 36 | 52 | 24 |
Note: Postseason results for the 2016–17 season are from the qualification series (Finnish: Karsintasarja) rather than the playoffs and are not calculated with playoff totals.
Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Finland U18 | WW18 | 5th | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
2018 | Finland U18 | WW18 | 5th | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
2019 | Finland U18 | WW18 | ![]() |
6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | |
2019 | Finland | WW | ![]() |
7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2020 | Finland U18 | WW18 | 4th | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
2021 | Finland | WW | ![]() |
7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
2022 | Finland | OG | ![]() |
7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | |
2022 | Finland | WW | 6th | 7 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
Junior totals | 22 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 10 | ||||
Senior totals | 28 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 16 |
Sources: Finnish Ice Hockey Association,[13] Elite Prospects[14]
Award | Year |
---|---|
Naisten Liiga | |
All-Star First Team | 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 |
Aurora Borealis Cup Champion | 2019, 2021, 2022 |
Päivi Halonen Award (Best Defenseman) | 2020, 2021, 2022 |
U18 Student Athlete of the Year | 2020 |
Player of the Month | October 2020 |
Karoliina Rantamäki Award (Playoff MVP) | 2022 |
International | |
WW18 Top-3 Player on Team | 2018, 2019, 2020 |
WW18 All-Star Team | 2019 |
WW18 Bronze Medal | 2019 |
WW18 Best Defenseman | 2020 |
World Championship Silver Medal | 2019 |
World Championship Bronze Medal | 2021 |
Olympic Bronze Medal | 2022 |
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