Jenniina Nylund

Jenniina Nylund (born 18 June 1999) is a Finnish ice hockey centre and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, currently playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Brynäs IF Dam. Her college ice hockey career was played with the St. Cloud State Huskies women's ice hockey program in the NCAA Division I.

Jenniina Nylund
Born (1999-06-18) 18 June 1999
Jacobstad (Pietarsaari), Finland
Height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 63 kg (139 lb; 9 st 13 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
SDHL team
Former teams		 Brynäs IF
St. Cloud State Huskies
Team Kuortane
National team  Finland
Playing career 2015–present
Medal record
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place2022 BeijingIce hockey
World Championship
Bronze medal – third place2021 Canada

Playing career

At four years of age, Nylund followed in the footsteps of her three older brothers and began playing ice hockey with the minor department of Jeppis Hockey, an ice hockey club in her hometown of Jakobstad (Finnish: Pietarsaari) on the coast of Ostrobothnia. She joined the women's under-16 (U16) team of Kokkolan Hermes, a club in Kokkola (approx. 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Jakobstad), in her early teens and played on both the Hermes women's U16 team and the Jeppis men's U16 team during the 2014–15 season.[1]

Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Nylund moved 130 km (80 mi) from home to Kuortane to attend the Kuortaneen urheilulukio ('Kuortane Sports Lukio') and join the school's team in the Naisten SM-sarja, the top-tier women's ice hockey league in Finland (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017). On Team Kuortane, she played alongside several future national team teammates, including Petra Nieminen, Viivi Vainikka, Sini Karjalainen, and Anni Keisala. Nylund ranked among the team's top four point earners during her three seasons in Kuortane. In the 2017–18 Naisten Liiga season, she led the team in points and goals during the regular season and topped the league's points table in the Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs. Buoyed by the sublime scoring production of Nylund, Nieminen, and Vainikka, Team Kuortane won the 2018 Finnish Championship bronze medal – the best postseason finish in team history.[2]

She has played 83 regular season games in the Naisten SM-sarja/Naisten Liiga, scoring 43 goals and notching 36 assists. In the Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs, she has netted nine goals and seven assists in ten games.

Upon graduating from the Kuortaneen urheilulukio, Nylund opted to play college ice hockey in the United States and joined the St. Cloud State Huskies women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA Division I as a freshman for the 2018–19 season. She served as an alternate captain during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. In total, Nylund scored 40 goals and 48 assists for 89 points in 139 games across five seasons with the Huskies.

Nylund signed a one-season contract with Brynäs IF for the 2023–24 SDHL season, joining fellow Finnish national team player Sini Karjalainen on the roster.

International play

Nylund was a member of the Finnish national under-18 ice hockey team from 2013 to 2017. She played in the 2016 IIHF World Women's U18 Championships in St. Catharines, Ontario, at which Finland placed sixth. Despite the team's lower-than-desired finish, Nylund had a great tournament, notching two goals and four assists for six points in five games. Her point total ranked second on the Finnish team, behind Petra Nieminen (4+2), and tenth of all players participating in the tournament.

At the 2017 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, Nylund again ranked second on the Finnish team in scoring, netting three goals in five games. The team roster featured many future senior national team players, including fellow 2021 World Championship debutants Sini Karjalainen, Julia Liikala, and Emilia Vesa. The team was talented and had quality depth, but an overtime loss to the Czech Republic in the group stage and a loss to Sweden in the quarterfinals limited them to a fifth-place finish.

Nylund first played with the senior Finnish national team in three matches during the 2016–17 international season, not recording a point. She continued to pursue the goal of being named to a World Championship roster while pursuing her college career in the United States, participating in the 2018 Four Nations Cup, at which Finland won bronze, and at two of the four tournaments in the 2019–20 Women's Euro Hockey Tour. Her goal was finally realized in April 2021, when she was named to the Finnish roster for the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship.[3]

Personal life

Nylund holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.[4]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Playoffs
SeasonTeamLeague GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
2014–15 Jeppis U16 U16 Suomi-s. 15 5 6 11 6 – – – – –
2014–15 Hermes U16 U16-Tyt.. 9 23 15 38 12 – – – – –
2015–16 Team Kuortane NSMs 28 7 10 17 16 1 0 0 0 0
2016–17 Team Kuortane NSMs 25 13 10 23 26 2 1 0 1 0
2017–18 Team Kuortane NSML 30 23 16 39 14 7 8 7 15 6
2018–19 St. Cloud State Huskies NCAA 35 8 13 21 10 – – – – –
2019–20 St. Cloud State Huskies NCAA 30 4 9 13 12 – – – – –
2020–21 St. Cloud State Huskies NCAA 19 7 5 12 14 – – – – –
2021–22 St. Cloud State Huskies NCAA 18 7 8 15 16 – – – – –
2022–23St. Cloud State HuskiesNCAA 3714142837 ––––—
Naisten Liiga totals 8343367956 1097166
NCAA totals 13940498989 –––––

Sources: Elite Prospects,[5] USCHO[6]

International
YearTeamEventResult   GPGAPtsPIM
2016 Finland U18 WW18 6th 5 2 4 6 4
2017 Finland U18 WW18 5th 5 3 0 3 4
2021 Finland WW 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 1 0 1 0
2022 Finland OG 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 1 0 1 0
2022 Finland WW 6th 7 0 0 0 0
2023FinlandWW5th 75272
Junior totals 105498
Senior totals 287292

Sources: [7][8]

Awards and honors
Award Year
International
World U18 Top-3 Player on Team 2017
World Championship Bronze Medal 2021
Olympic Bronze Medal 2022
St. Cloud State Huskies
WCHA Forward of the Week 29 November 2021[9]
28 November 2022[10]
WCHA All-Academic Team 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Naisten Liiga
Player of the Month February 2018

References
  1. Koivukangas, Antti (26 December 2018). "Drömmen om hemma-VM driver 19-åriga Jenniina Nylund framåt i USA: "Man får verkligen kriga för att ta sig fram"". Yle Svenska (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  2. Teiskonlahti, Kirsi (31 March 2018). "Team Kuortane saavutti ensimmäisen mitalinsa Naisten Liigassa – Pajarinen torjui nollapelin". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  3. Huttunen, Sasha (7 April 2021). "Tässä on Naisleijonien MM-joukkue – mukana 15-vuotias teinilupaus!". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. "2020-21 Women's Ice Hockey Roster: 81 Jenniina Nylund". St. Cloud State University Athletics. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  5. "Player Profile: Jenniina Nylund". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  6. "Jenniina Nylund: Career Statistics". U.S. College Hockey Online. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  7. Podnieks, Andrew; Nordmark, Birger, eds. (2019). "Active Skaters, Women". IIHF Guide & Record Book 2020. Toronto: Moydart. p. 656. ISBN 9780986796470.
  8. "2023 IIHF Women's World Championship – Player Statistics by Team: FIN - Finland". International Ice Hockey Federation. 16 April 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  9. "Holiday Play Results in Weekly Award Winners". Western Collegiate Hockey Association (Press release). 29 November 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  10. "WCHA Players of the Week Shine in Nonconference Play". Western Collegiate Hockey Association (Press release). 28 November 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
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