Finland national ringette team

The Finland national ringette team, (Finnish: Suomen naisten ringettemaajoukkue), more commonly known as "Team Finland", is the ringette team representing Finland internationally. Finland has both a senior national team, Team Finland Senior, and a junior national team, Team Finland Junior. Both national teams compete in the World Ringette Championships (WRC) and are overseen by Ringette Finland, (Finnish: Suomen Ringetteliitto) which is a member of the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Finland's first appearance in international ringette took place at the first World Ringette Championships in 1990.

Finland
Shirt badge/Association crest
Previous Finland National Ringette Team logo
Nickname(s)Team Finland[1]
AssociationRingette Finland
(Finnish: Suomen Ringetteliitto)
Head coach
  • Team Finland Sr.

POSTPONED (2023)

  • Team Finland Jr.

Nina Sundell (2023)

  • Team Finland U18

Heidi Petrell (2023)

Assistants
  • Team Finland Jr.
Captain
  • Team Finland Jr.
  • Enni Ojala
Team colors     
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
First international
Senior:

Finland Finland (Sr.) 1990
(Gloucester, Canada; 1990)

Junior:

Finland Finland (Jr.) 28–1 Sweden Sweden (Sr.)
(North Bay, Canada; December 31, 2013)
World Ringette Championships
AppearancesJunior: 6
(first in 2009)

Senior: 14 including 1998 Summit Series (first in 1990)
Best result
Medal record
World Ringette Championships
Seniors
1990 GloucesterTeam
Bronze medal – third place1992 HelsinkiTeam
Gold medal – first place1994 Saint PaulTeam
Silver medal – second place1996 StockholmTeam
Gold medal – first place1998 Summit Series
Turku, Gothenburg, Osnabruck, Colmar		Team
Gold medal – first place2000 Espoo and LahtiTeam
Silver medal – second place2002 EdmontonTeam
Gold medal – first place2004 StockholmTeam
Gold medal – first place2007 OttawaTeam
Gold medal – first place2010 TampereTeam
Gold medal – first place2013 North BayTeam
Gold medal – first place2016 HelsinkiTeam
Gold medal – first place2017 MississaugaTeam
Gold medal – first place2019 BurnabyTeam
2021 HelsinkiCancelled
Gold medal – first place2022 EspooTeam
2023 Calgary, POSTPONEDTeam
World Junior Ringette Championships
Juniors
Gold medal – first place2009 PragueTeam
Bronze medal – third place2009 PragueTeam
Silver medal – second place2012 LondonTeam
World Ringette Championships
Juniors
Gold medal – first place2013 North BayTeam
Silver medal – second place2016 TampereTeam
Silver medal – second place2017 MississaugaTeam
Silver medal – second place2019 BurnabyTeam
2021 HelsinkiCancelled
Gold medal – first place2022 EspooTeam
2023 CalgaryTeam
World Ringette Championships
U18 International Development Festival
2022 EspooTeam
2023 CalgaryTeam

Team Finland and Team Canada have emerged as ringette's major international rivals at both the senior and junior level. Historically, Team Finland Senior dominates the Senior Pool, while Team Canada Junior dominates the Junior Pool.

Timo Himberg was the head coach of the senior national team from March 2011 to 2020 after which Pasi Kataja was chosen to become the team's next head coach.[2] Kataja was previously the coach of the Finnish senior national ringette team from 2003–2006 and the head coach of the junior national team from 1999–2002.[3]

History

Finland's first appearance in international ringette took place at the 1990 World Ringette Championships which was the inaugural year for the World Ringette Championships (WRC). One Finland senior amateur ringette team represented the country, "Team Finland", while the Canadians sent six different Canadian teams to compete.[4] Since the 1990 WRC, a single amateur national Finland team has served as the country's senior representative, with Team Finland Senior eventually competing against Team Canada Senior in the 1998 Summit Series.

The 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships was the first ringette tournament where an international competition took place specifically for junior players between ringette playing nations. Team Finland Junior (U19) is Finland's junior representative. Today junior national ringette teams compete in the Junior Pool at the World Ringette Championships after the junior tournament merged with the larger senior program in 2013.

World Championship record

Summit Series

The 1998 World Ringette Championships were replaced by a Summit Series between Team Canada and Team Finland, both of which were senior teams. Team Finland finished in first place defeating Team Canada.

Senior Finland
(Seniors) World Ringette Championships
Year Location Result Notes
1990 Canada Gloucester 7th
1992 Finland Helsinki Bronze
1994 United States Saint Paul Gold
1996 Sweden Stockholm Silver
1998
"Summit Series"		 Finland Turku
Sweden Gothenburg
Germany Osnabrück
France Colmar		 Gold
2000 Finland Espoo and Lahti Gold
2002 Canada Edmonton Silver
2004 Sweden Stockholm Gold
2007 Canada Ottawa Gold
2010 Finland Tampere Gold
2013 Canada North Bay Gold
2016 Finland Helsinki Gold
2017 Canada Mississauga Gold
2019 Canada Burnaby Gold
2021 Finland Helsinki cancelled
2022 Finland Espoo Gold
2023 Canada Calgary

Junior Finland
(Juniors) World Ringette Championships
Year Location Result Notes
2009 Czech Republic Prague Gold [5]
2012 Canada London Silver
2013 United States Saint Paul Gold
2016 Sweden Stockholm Silver
2017 Canada Mississauga Silver
2019 Canada Burnaby Silver
2021 Finland Helsinki cancelled
2022 Finland Espoo Gold

Team Finland Senior

Team Finland Senior's first appearance in international ringette took place at the first World Ringette Championships in 1990 in Gloucester, Ontario. However, the team was initially known only as "Team Finland" until the addition of the junior level at the World Ringette Championships in 2013, after which it has been known as Team Finland Senior.[6][7][8] Having competed at every World Championships since, they have won nine of the fourteen events, marking them as the most successful national ringette side by far.

Team Finland Junior

The World Junior Ringette Championship tournament was created separately from the major competition between senior national teams (the World Ringette Championships) and was established in 2009 by the International Ringette Federation. At the 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships, Finland was represented by two U19 (Under–19) teams, the Finland White Stars and the Finland Blue Stars.[5]

For the next World Junior Ringette Championships, the 2012 World Junior Ringette Championships, Finland sent only one Finland junior amateur ringette team, Team Finland U19. While Finland had formed its first all-junior Finland national ringette team in 2012, its arch-rival, Canada, did not form its first all-junior Canadian national ringette team until 2013. However, by 2013, the Junior tournament was officially merged with the World Ringette Championship and ceased as a separate event. From WRC 2013 onward, all competing ringette nations with Junior national ringette teams compete in the World Ringette Championships program along with Senior national teams but did so in a separate Junior Pool, currently dominated by Team Canada. Team Finland Junior and Team Canada Junior compete in a best-of-three series with the winner of the world ringette junior title also hoisting the Juuso Wahlsten Trophy.

Notable people

Players

Juuso Wahlsten
Main article: Juhani Wahlsten

Juhani Jorma Kalevi Wahlsten, a.k.a. Juuso Wahlsten, is called "The Father of Finnish Ringette" and was responsible for introducing ringette to Finland in 1979. The World Ringette Championships junior trophy has been named in his honour, the Juuso Wahlsten Trophy. Wahlsten also competed in the Winter Olympics as a member of the Finland men's national ice hockey team and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Timo Himberg
Main article: Timo Himberg

See also

References
  1. "Suomen naisten ringettemaajoukkue". facebook.com/ringettemaajoukkue (in Finnish). facebook. 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  2. Niemeläinen, Jonne (5 May 2020). "Pasi Kataja palaa ringettemaajoukkueen ruoriin" [Pasi Kataja returns to the helm of the national team]. Yle Urheilu (in Finnish). Yle Urheilu. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  3. Jonne Niemeläinen (5 May 2020). "Pasi Kataja palaa ringettemaajoukkueen ruoriin". yle.fi (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  4. "1990 World Ringette Championship (Gloucester, Ontario, Canada)". ringette.ca. Ringette Canada. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  5. "Team Finland White Stars win gold at first IRF U-19 Ringette Championship". Archived from the original on 12 November 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  6. "Ringeten MM 2000-projekti käynnistyy" [Ringete's MM 2000 project starts]. yle.fi (in Finnish). Yle. 25 November 1999. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  7. "Finland's First National Ringette Team in 1990". facebook.com. World Ringette Championships. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  8. "HISTORIA | SUOMEN RINGETTELIITTO PERUSTETTIIN 5.5.1983" [HISTORY | RINGETTE FINLAND WAS ESTABLISHED ON MAY 5, 1983]. ringette.fi. Ringette Finland. 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  9. Ismo Huotari (25 August 2022). "Menestyneen ringettepelaajan pelinumero jäädytetään: "Tosi mahtava juttu ja merkitsee minulle paljon"" [A successful ringette player's game number is frozen: "Really great thing and means a lot to me"]. savonsanomat.fi (in Finnish). savonsanomat. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
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