# Minttu Tuominen

Minnamari "Minttu" Tuominen (Chinese: 托米宁; pinyin: Tuōmǐníng; born 26 June 1990) is a Finnish ice hockey player. She plays in the Auroraliiga (called Naisten Liiga until 2024) with Kiekko-Espoo. A member of the Finnish national ice hockey team since 2008, she has earned medals at three Winter Olympic Games and five IIHF Women's World Championships.

## Playing career
### Finland

Tuominen played for the Espoo Blues Naiset in the Naisten SM-sarja (NSMs; rebranded as Naisten Liiga in 2017) and attended Makelanrinne Sports High School in Helsinki. At Makelanrinne, she captained the ice hockey team after being named one of the school's top athletes of 2007 and 2008. As a member of the Espoo Blues, she won the Finnish Championship three times (2007, 2008, 2009). One of her teammates with the Espoo Blues was Emma Terho (née Laaksonen).

### Ohio State Buckeyes

Milestones at Ohio State include:
* First goal: 3 October 2009, at Boston University
* First assist: 2 October 2009, at Boston University

### PHF

Tuominen signed with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) for the 2022–23 season, during which she served as an alternate captain. She played on the first defensive pairing alongside Anna Kilponen and scored nine goals on the season, the second-most goals scored in a season by a defenseman in league history. As the backbone of the first power play unit she scored six power play goals, setting a league record.
She re-signed with the club for the 2023–24 season in May 2023. The PHF was bought out and dissolved in late June 2023 and her contract was terminated, prompting her return to Finland.
Tuominen was selected in the fourteenth round, 84th overall by PWHL Minnesota in the 2023 PWHL Draft. She was the second Finnish player to be drafted into the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), following Susanna Tapani, who was also selected by Minnesota.
In August 2023, she signed with Kiekko-Espoo for the 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season, but her contract included the option to leave the team during the season. At the time, it was speculated that the provision was in place to allow Tuominen to play in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), a new North American league that replaced the PHF and began its first season in January 2024. Rather than joining the PWHL, Tuominen left Kiekko-Espoo mid-season for several months to join Shenzhen KRS for the inaugural season of the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey League (WCIHL). After winning the 2024 WCIHL championship with Shenzhen KRS, she returned to Kiekko-Espoo for the remainder of the Naisten Liiga regular season and playoffs.

## International play

As a junior player with the Finnish national under-18 team, Tuominen participated in the 2008 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship.
Tuominen made her debut with the Finnish national team in 2008, appearing in a series against Sweden in September, the 2008 Four Nations Cup in November, and helping Finland win the Euro Hockey Tour in December.
She was a member of the bronze medal-winning Finnish team at the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, China and played at the 2009 MLP Nations Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. Tuominen won a bronze medal at the 2010 Four Nations Cup in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.
Her first major International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament with the Finnish national team was the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where she won her first Olympic bronze medal. At the 2011 IIHF Women's World Championship, she recorded her first point at a major IIHF tournament – the primary assist on Annina Rajahuhta's goal against Kazakhstan in the preliminary round – and her first major tournament goal, scoring twice against Russia in the bronze medal game, which Finland ultimately won in overtime.
Having established herself as a core player on the national team, Tuominen went on to play at the subsequent seven IIHF Women's World Championships, winning a silver medal in 2019 and bronze medals in 2015, 2017, and 2021. She was selected as a top-three player for Finland by the coaches at the 2015 tournament.

## Career statistics
### Regular season and playoffs

| | | | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 2003–04 | KS Noux | N. Suomi-sarja | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2004–05 | KS Noux | Naisten I-div. | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2005–06 | KS Noux | Naisten I-div. | 11 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 6 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2006–07 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 17 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2007–08 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 11 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2008–09 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 22 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 2009–10 | Ohio State Buckeyes | NCAA | 23 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 8 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2010–11 | Ohio State Buckeyes | NCAA | 32 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 10 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2011–12 | Ohio State Buckeyes | NCAA | 32 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 22 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2012–13 | Ohio State Buckeyes | NCAA | 37 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 22 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2013–14 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 24 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 24 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 6 |
| 2014–15 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 26 | 17 | 32 | 49 | 40 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 2015–16 | Espoo Blues | NSMs | 28 | 13 | 45 | 58 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| 2016–17 | Linköping HC | SDHL | 32 | 17 | 9 | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 2017–18 | Espoo Blues | NSML | 20 | 12 | 11 | 23 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| 2018–19 | Espoo Blues | NSML | 30 | 13 | 50 | 63 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| 2019–20 | Kiekko-Espoo | NSML | 30 | 19 | 21 | 40 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 4 |
| 2020–21 | KRS Vanke Rays | ZhHL | 24 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021–22 | Kiekko-Espoo | NSML | 15 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 2 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2021–22 | KRS Vanke Rays | ZhHL | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 2022–23 | Metropolitan Riveters | PHF | 24 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 10 | – | – | – | – | — |
| 2023–24 | Shenzhen KRS | WCIHL | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2023–24 | Kiekko-Espoo | NSML | 18 | 5 | 26 | 31 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 6 |
| NCAA totals | NCAA totals | NCAA totals | 124 | 16 | 33 | 49 | 62 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Naisten Liiga totals | Naisten Liiga totals | Naisten Liiga totals | 223 | 111 | 218 | 329 | 130 | 61 | 21 | 46 | 67 | 48 |
| ZhHL totals | ZhHL totals | ZhHL totals | 36 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 24 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
Sources:

### International

| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 2008 | Finland | WC18 | 6th | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2009 | Finland | Uni | | 7 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| 2010 | Finland | OG | | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | Finland | WC | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 2012 | Finland | WC | 4th | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2013 | Finland | WC | 4th | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2014 | Finland | OG | 5th | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2015 | Finland | WC | | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2016 | Finland | WC | 4th | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2017 | Finland | WC | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 2018 | Finland | OG | | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2019 | Finland | WC | | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 2021 | Finland | WC | | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 2022 | Finland | OG | | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Senior totals | Senior totals | Senior totals | Senior totals | 74 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 46 |
Sources: