Sanni Vanhanen

Sanni Vanhanen
Born	(2005-07-01) 1 July 2005 Nokia, Finland
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position	Forward
Shoots	Left
NSML team Former teams	HIFK Helsinki Tappara Tampere U16 Ilves Tampere
National team	Finland
Playing career	2019–present
Medal record Olympic Games 2022 Beijing Ice hockey World Championship 2021 Canada

Sanni Vanhanen (born 1 July 2005) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Naisten Liiga (NSML) with HIFK Naiset. She was the youngest player to represent Finland in the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and was the youngest player to compete in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Playing career

Vanhanen began playing ice hockey with the youth department of HC Nokia in her hometown of Nokia, in the Pirkanmaa region of southwestern Finland. As HC Nokia did not have a girls' ice hockey section, she played with HC Nokia's top boys' teams for her age. In the 2017–18 season, her last with HC Nokia, she played with the club's boys' teams in the under-12 (U12; E1) AAA league and the U13 (D2) AA and U13 (D2) AAA leagues (see minor ice hockey).

Vanhanen joined the youth department of Tappara hockey club in Tampere, a neighboring municipality some 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Nokia, ahead of the 2018–19 season. Like HC Nokia, Tappara did not have a girls' ice hockey section, and in her first season with the club, she played in the boys' D1 (U14) AAA with Tappara Musta ('Tappara Black') and also appeared in a few matches as a substitute with Tappara's other D1 AAA team, Tappara Sininen ('Tappara Blue'). In the D1 AAA preliminary series (alkusarja), she ranked sixth of all Tappara Musta players for scoring, with 10 points in 16 games, and tied for third in team assists, with 7. Facing new and more challenging opponents in the regular season (jatkosarja), her scoring was limited to 2 goals and four assists for 6 points in 15 games.

During the 2021–22 season, she played in the U16 SM-sarja with the men's under-16 team of Tappara and on loan in the Naisten Liiga with the Tampereen Ilves Naiset.

International play

Vanhanen participated in the 2019 Women's U16 European Cup, winning silver with the Finnish team. She joined the Finnish national under-18 team in the 2019–20 season, playing in nineteen international matches in addition to competing at the 2020 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, where Finland finished fourth.

Vanhanen's first invitation to a senior national team training camp was the roster selection camp for the World Championship in March 2021. National team head coach Pasi Mustonen described her as a player with "absolutely tremendous potential" and identified her adaptability as a key attribute that led to her selection.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2017–18	HC Nokia Mustat	D2 AA		6	7	12	19	0		–	–	–	–	–
2017–18	HC Nokia Oranssit	D2 AAA		25	11	14	25	4		–	–	–	–	–
2018–19	Tappara Musta	D1 AAA		31	5	11	16	4		–	–	–	–	–
2018–19	Tappara Sininen	D1 AAA		4	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
2019–20	Tappara Musta	D1 AAA		22	8	4	12	2		–	–	–	–	–
2019–20	Tappara Sininen	D1 AAA		1	1	1	2	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Tappara Musta	U15 AAA		15	3	6	9	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Tappara Sininen	U15 AAA		1	0	1	1	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Ilves (L)	NSML		2	2	2	4	0		7	1	1	2	0
2021–22	Tappara U15 Black	U15 AAA		2	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
2021–22	Tappara U16	U16 SM-sarja		28	5	4	9	2		–	–	–	–	–
2021–22	Ilves (L)	NSML		4	2	1	3	0		–	–	–	–	–
2022–23	HIFK	NSML		22	18	22	40	4		9	12	8	20	0
Naisten Liiga totals				28	22	25	47	4		16	13	9	22	0

Sources:

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2020	Finland U18	WW18	4th		6	0	0	0	0
2021	Finland	WW			4	0	1	1	0
2022	Finland	OG			7	0	1	1	0
2022	Finland U18	WW18			5	3	3	6	2
2022	Finland	WW	6th		7	0	1	1	6
2023	Finland U18	WW18	4th		6	3	2	5	2
2023	Finland	WW	5th		7	0	6	6	0
Junior totals					17	6	5	11	4
Senior totals					25	0	9	9	6

Sources:

Awards and honors

Award	Year
Naisten Liiga
Aurora Borealis Cup Champion	2023
Playoff MVP	2023
Noora Räty Award	2023
International
World Championship Bronze Medal	2021
Olympic Bronze Medal	2022
EYOF Bronze Medal	2022
World U18 All-Star Team	2022
World U18 Bronze Medal	2022
World U18 Top-3 Player on Team	2022

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or ESPN.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Sanni Vanhanen at Olympedia