Matilda Nilsson

Matilda Nilsson (born 2 March 1997) is a Finnish ice hockey player, a winger. She has played in the Auroraliiga with the Tampereen Ilves since September 2024. As a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, she won a bronze medal at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship.

Playing career Nilsson grew up in Kirkkonummi, a municipality in the western Greater Helsinki region, where she began playing ice hockey at age 5. Her youth club was HC Salamat and she played on boys’ teams throughout her childhood until age 16. Regarding the experience, she has said, "I am so grateful that I got to play in boys'. The differences [from women's hockey] can be seen in the physicality and doggedness. A different kind of hockey intelligence came from the games."

While playing with Salamat's boys' teams, she also joined the women's representative team of Keski-Uudenmaan Juniorikiekkoilun Tuki (KJT) in Kerava and made her senior league debut at age thirteen in the 2010–11 season of the Naisten Suomi-sarja, the third-tier women's national league in Finland. She played eleven games in the qualification series, contributing fifteen points (7 goals + 8 assists) as the team gained promotion to the second-tier Naisten I-divisioona (renamed Naisten Mestis in 2012).

Remaining with the KJT in the following season, she ranked third on the team for scoring across the regular season and qualifiers, with 23 points in twenty games. In the 2012–13 Naisten Mestis season, she recorded nearly two points per game, with 44 points (26+19) in 23 games, ranking third of KJT players and fifth in the league overall. Nilsson's performance, in addition to phenomenal seasons posted by many KJT players – most notably Noora Tulus (77 points), Tinja Haukijärvi (45 points), and Emmi Rakkolainen (41 points) – helped the team gain promotion yet again, this time to the top-tier Naisten SM-sarja (called Naisten Liiga during 2017–2024; renamed Auroraliiga in 2024).

KJT struggled against the higher compete-level of the Naisten SM-sarja and finished the 2013–14 regular season at the bottom of the standings, with a goal differential of -134. Despite the challenges, several players had solid seasons, none more so than Nilsson who scored over a quarter of KJT’s goals and led the team in scoring, with 23 points in 27 games. KJT was able to save themselves from relegation in the qualifiers, thanks in part to the nineteen points Nilsson contributed across the ten game series. Before the 2014–15 Naisten SM-sarja season, seventeen year old Nilsson moved over away from home to sign with KalPa Naiset in Kuopio.

Nilsson began the 2022–23 season with the men's U17 squad of HC Salamat. She played one match with the team before signing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Brynäs IF. Across 27 games with Brynäs in the 2022–23 SDHL season, she scored sixteen goals and twelve assists for 28 points. Her point total ranked fifth on the team and she tied with Maja Nylén Persson for third-most goals scored, behind only Lara Stalder and Anna Meixner.

She entered the 2023–24 SDHL season without a contract and did not play until October, when she signed with Frölunda HC to fill the gap left when the team's captain, Hanna Olsson, was sidelined by a season-ending hamstring injury. She ranked fifth on the team for scoring, with seven goals and nine assists for sixteen points across 27 games.

International play Nilsson played with the Finnish national U18 team at the 2014 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, where Finland placed fifth.

At age sixteen, Nilsson was invited to join the senior national team but was committed to other interests at the time and choose not to pursue the opportunity.

Nilsson was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, before the tournament was cancelled on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life Nilsson was born on 2 March 1997 to a family of Swedish-Finns, a culturally distinct group of people born in Finland speaking Swedish as their first language. Her parents, Camilla and Toni, run in Kirkkonummi, the home venue of HC Salamat. During Nilsson's youth, her father worked as a police officer.

Hockey Hall of Fame-inductee Hayley Wickenheiser lived with the Nilsson family while playing with Salamat during the 2002–03 season and 2003–04 season. Nilsson recalled "following her everywhere" as a five year old, watching what Wickenheiser did at the rink and in the locker room and adopting those habits, some of which have stuck with Nilsson into her senior career. The two women continue to communicate on a regular basis and Nilsson describes Wickenheiser as having played a significant role in her career.

Nilsson previously worked as a kindergarten classroom assistant in Kuopio and also considered pursuing a career in nursing.

Career statistics Regular season and postseason

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2014 Finland WW18 5th 5 2 3 5 0 2018 4NC 3rd 4 1 0 1 4 2021 Finland WC 2 0 0 0 0 Junior totals 5 2 3 5 0 Senior totals 6 1 0 1 4

Sources: IIHF, Hockey Canada

Awards and honors AwardYearAuroraliiga First All-Star Team 2015, 2020, 2021 Second All-Star Team 2018, 2019, 2022 Player of the Month September 2019 Sari Fisk Award (Best plus/minus) 2020 Tiia Reima Award (Most goals) 2021, 2022 Finnish Championship Silver Medal 2022SDHL Swedish Championship Silver Medal 2023