Catches Left Height 1.73 m National team Finland Weight 63 kg | Name Eveliina Suonpaa Positions Goaltender Role Ice hockey player | |
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Born 12 April 1995 (age 28)
Kiukainen, Finland ( 1995-04-12 ) NCAA team
Former teams Minnesota–Duluth
Team Kuortane | ||
#1 Eveliina Suonpää
Eveliina Suonpää (born 12 April 1995) is a Finnish female ice hockey goaltender currently playing for her country's women's national ice hockey team in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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Biography
Suonpää was born 12 April 1995, in Kiukainen. She has played ice hockey since the age of four. She started playing with her brother, and learned the game in an ice hockey rink in her home municipality. She played on hockey teams with men for two seasons during her junior years before eventually joining all-women teams. She currently plays for Team Oriflame Kuortane in Jääkiekon naisten SM-sarja, the Finnish national women's ice hockey league, where she finished the 2012–13 season with a 3.02 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
Suonpää played in her country's women's national under-18 team during the 2013 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, finishing a 2.77 goals against average and .905 save percentage. She made her debut on Finland women's national ice hockey team in August 2013 with a 4–1 victory over Japan. She split goaltending for that game with Tiina Ranne, who was also making her debut with the team. Suonpää was chosen to play in the 2014 Winter Olympics as the third goaltender, a selection that she said took her by surprise.
She currently lives in Kuortane, where she is a student at the Kuortaneen urheilulukio sports academy. She has aspirations for playing ice hockey in the United States.
As of the 2014-15 school year Suonpää attends the University of Minnesota Duluth and plays for their women's hockey team, which is a NCAA Division 1 program.
