Krista Parkkonen

Krista Parkkonen (born 25 June 2002) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team. She is signed with Färjestad BK in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) for the 2026–27 season.

Playing career Parkkonen first played ice hockey at age 4 or 5, participating in a youth hockey school in her hometown of Lappeenranta, a city in South Karelia situated from the Russian border. She played on girls' teams for a few years. Early on, she set her sights on playing for the national team and having a college ice hockey career in the United States, which prompted her to switch to playing with the boys' teams for her age group in the minor ice hockey department of SaiPa. At age fifteen, she made her debut with SaiPa Naiset, SaiPa's representative women's team in the third-tier Naisten Suomi-sarja but, as the women's team was not very competitive, she continued to spend most of her time playing on the boys' junior teams.

At age seventeen, Parkkonen was recruited to play for IFK Helsinki (HIFK) by the team's general manager and head coach, Saara Niemi. HIFK had gained promotion to the Naisten Liiga (NSML), the premier women's league in Finland, at the end of the previous season and Parkkonen was one of several stand-out players brought in to bolster the ranks.

Parkkonen and her Catamounts teammate Natálie Mlýnková left Vermont to join the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program ahead of the 2024–25 season.

After one season with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Parkkonen transferred to the University of Minnesota Duluth and joined the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women's ice hockey program.

Professional In April 2026, Parkkonen signed a contract with Färjestad BK in the SDHL for the 2026–27 season.

International play As a junior ice hockey player with the Finnish national under-18 team, Parkkonen participated in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

She made her debut with the senior national team at the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship, at which she scored a goal and two assists in seven games. Representing Finland at subsequent IIHF Women's World Championships, she notched three assists at the 2023 tournament and won a bronze medal in 2024.

Parkkonen was named to The Hockey News' Top-35 U-23 Players in Women's Hockey in September 2022.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors Award YearInternational World U18 Bronze Medal 2019 World Championship Bronze Medal 2024, 2025College All-Hockey East Second Team 2023–24 Naisten Liiga Noora Räty Award (Rookie of the Year) 2019–20 All-Star Second Team 2020–21, 2021–22