Position Defence Playing career Weight 84 kg National team Finland Height 1.84 m | RWHL team SKIF Nizhni Novgorod Role Ice hockey player Shoots Right Name Mira Jalosuo Date joined 2007 | |
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Born 3 February 1989 (age 35)
Lieksa, Finland ( 1989-02-03 ) Parents Sirpa Jalosuo, Aki-Pekka Jalosuo Current teams SKIF Nizhny Novgorod (#7 / Defenseman), Finland women's national ice hockey team (#7 / Defenseman) | ||
Mira Jalosuo (born February 3, 1989) is a Finnish female ice hockey player. She played four world championships for the Finland women's national ice hockey team before joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2009, becoming one of the team's first European players. She recorded 19 goals and 37 assists during her collegiate career, and was the last player cut from the 2010 Winter Olympics.
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Early career
Jalosuo was born 3 February 1989 to Aki-Pekka and Sirpa Jalosuo, and raised in Lieksa, a small town with one hockey rink. After playing pond hockey with neighborhood kids, she joined a local boys' team, Lieksan Hurtat, at age 12 at the urging of her physical education teacher and teammates. She moved to Oulu at age 15 to improve her game, and joined the local women's team Karpat, which plays in the Finnish national league. The team won two silver and two bronze medals during her time, and Jalosuo was captain for two years, and was named all-star defense in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
She also played for the Finland women's national ice hockey team, playing in four world championships, including every championship game in 2008 and 2009. Jalosuo also competed in the 2008 Four Nation's Cup, during which she scored a goal. She is a 2009 graduate of the Kastelli High School. After five-year in Oulu, she decided the Finnish national league was not challenging enough and pursued her dream of playing college hockey in the United States. Several schools tried to recruit her, and she toured Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2008 before choosing the University of Minnesota, where she would major in chemistry.
College career
Jalosuo and her college roommate, goaltender Noora Räty, became the first European players to join the Minnesota Golden Gophers. During her four years on the team, Jalosuo scored a total of 57 points, with 19 goals and 37 assists over 152 games. She played in 37 games during her 2009–10 freshman season, recording one goal and five assists, with a +4 rating. She scored her first collegiate point when she assisted on Chelsey Jones' goal against Syracuse Orange on 4 October 2009. She missed three games in January to play with the Finnish National Team at the Meco Cup in Germany. Jalouso scored her first collegiate goal in an 8–5 win over the MSU-Mankato Mavericks during the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs on 26 February. She was the last player cut for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which she called "a turning point in my life and hockey career" that made her more determined to make a future Olympic team.
During her 2010–11 sophomore season, Jalosuo was a WCHA All-Academic Team honoree and letterwinner. She played all 38 games of the season and recorded four goals (all on the power play and eight assists, with a +9 rating. Paired with Anne Schleper, Jalosuo had two multi-point games, scored her first assist of the season against the St. Cloud State Huskies on 22 October, and scored game-winning goals in both games against the Harvard Crimson on 26 and 28 November. She also set up Terry Kelly's goal in the 4–2 victory over the Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs in a WCHA semifinal game on 4 March. During her 2011–12 junior season, Jalosuo was an Academic All-WCHA and scored a total of three goals and six assists, netting her first goal of the season in a 4–0 win over Syracuse on 1 October. She scored one assist each during the WCHA first round and semifinals, and had a +3 rating during a 5–1 National Collegiate Athletic Association Quarterfinal win over the University of North Dakota on 10 March.
In her 2011–12 senior season, Jalosuo recorded a career-high 30 points, with 11 goals and 19 assists over all 41 games of the season, for a +38 rating. Four of her goals were game-winners, and she was named to the All-WCHA Third Team and the All-WCHA Academic Team. She scored a goal in each of game of the opening series against the Colgate Raiders on 28 and 29 September, and had two-point streaks during the season, recording six assists and one goal between 12 and 20 October, and five assists and one goal between 2 and 16 February. She scored a goal in the 5–0 shutout over the Bemidji State Beavers in the WCHA First Round on 1 March, as well as a goal in a win, also 5–0, against the Ohio State Buckeyes on 8 March in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Face-Off. Jalosuo assisted Terry Kelly on the game-winning goal in their triple-overtime victory over North Dakota on 16 March in the NCAA QUarterfinals, and recorded the first goal of the National Championship game against the Boston University Terriers on 24 March.
Post-college career
Jalouso plays for SKIF Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Women's Hockey League.