Susanna Tapani

Susanna Jenni Tapani (born 2 March 1993) is a Finnish multi-sport athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey. She plays professional ice hockey for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and is a member of both the Finnish national ice hockey team and Finnish national ringette team.

Ice hockey career Tapani played ice hockey in Finland in the Naisten Liiga with TPS Naiset, Lukko Naiset, Espoo Blues Naiset, and HPK Kiekkonaiset. In Sweden, Tapani played in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Linköping HC Dam. In the United States, Tapani played with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks women's ice hockey program during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. In Russia, Tapani played professional ice hockey in the Russian Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke Rays during the later part of the 2021–22 ZhHL season.

During the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons, Tapani played with the TPS Juniorijääkiekko men's under-18 (U18) team, known as TPS U18 Akatemia, of the U18 Mestis/U18 Suomi-sarja until scheduling conflicts forced her to choose between ringette and ice hockey in November 2020. When it became clear that the TPS U18 Akatemia was unable or unwilling to alter its schedule to accommodate Tapani, she chose to leave the team and continue playing ringette with RNK Raisio of the Finnish Championship ringette league, the Ringeten SM-sarja (now known as SM Ringette), which is the ringette team she captains. Regarding the situation, Tapani stated, "I'm not commenting on the discussions [with TPS] or the way this came to be, but combining the two sports didn't fit when there were too many overlapping games."

She signed a contract for the 2023–24 season in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Metropolitan Riveters in May 2023. The PHF was bought out and dissolved in late-June 2023 and her contract voided before she was able to play in the league.

Tapani was drafted in the fifth round, 25th overall by the PWHL Minnesota in the 2023 PWHL Draft. She was the first Finnish player to be drafted by a PWHL team and, along with Minttu Tuominen, was one of two Finnish players drafted in 2023. She later signed a two-year contract with Minnesota, through the 2024–25 season.

On 11 February 2024, Tapani was traded to PWHL Boston, along with defender Abby Cook, in exchange for Sophie Jaques in the PWHL's inaugural trade. Prior to being traded, Tapani had recorded two goals and three assists in nine games with Minnesota. During the 2024–25 season, she recorded 11 goals and seven assists in 30 games. She ranked third on the team in scoring with 18 points. On 17 June 2025, she signed a one-year contract extension with the Fleet.

Training Tapani trained with several men's professional ice hockey players during the extended pause between the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons due to COVID-19. Under the direction of Ismo Lehkonen, the group – which included NHLers Kaapo Kakko, Artturi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen, and Rasmus Ristolainen, and several Liiga players – trained on the ice together for two hours a day. Jonne Virtanen, long-time Liiga player and member of the training group, noted that Tapani's strength and toughness would be well suited to a style of play that permitted checking and enthused, "Suski is the best female player that I have ever seen."

International play Tapani made three appearances with the Finnish women's national under-18 ice hockey team at the IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, winning a bronze medal at the 2011 tournament.

As of 2020, Tapani ranks sixth in all-time points scored with the Finnish women's national team, tallying 75 goals and 72 assists for 147 points in 179 top division matches. She has represented Finland at every IIHF Women's World Championship since 2011, except the 2016 tournament. At the 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship, she was Finland's leading scorer and ranked fifth for scoring in the tournament overall with 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points in 5 games.

Tapani has also competed with the Finnish national team at the Winter Olympic Games, debuting in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Though Finland suffered their worst Olympic placement in team history, finishing in fifth place, Tapani saw individual success and tied teammate Riikka Välilä for third rank on the Finnish scoring list, with 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points in six games. In the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Finland won bronze and Tapani finished fourth in the team's scoring ranks, with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in six games. The women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing saw Tapani take another step in offensive production – she ranked first on the team in scoring with 6 goals and 2 assists for 8 points in seven games – and led Finland to another bronze medal victory.

In 2021, Pasi Mustonen, head coach of the Finnish national ice hockey team, called Tapani the team's best forward on a roster that also featured internationally recognized forwards like Michelle Karvinen and Petra Nieminen.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs

Note: Italics indicate postseason relegation series; statistics not included in playoff totals.

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2009 Finland U18 5th 5 3 0 3 0 2010 Finland U18 5th 5 2 1 3 4 2011 Finland U18 6 4 2 6 33 2011 WC 6 1 2 3 4 2012 Finland WC 4th 6 1 0 1 2 2013 Finland WC 4th 6 0 0 0 2 2014 Finland OG 5th 6 1 4 5 2 2015 Finland WC 6 1 2 3 2 2017 Finland WC 6 3 6 9 2 2018 Finland OG 6 2 3 5 4 2019 Finland WC 7 4 2 6 10 2021 Finland WC 7 3 2 5 6 2022 Finland OG 7 6 2 8 0 2022 Finland WC 6th 6 3 2 5 0 2024 Finland WC 7 2 4 6 8 2025 Finland WC 7 1 1 2 2 2026 Finland OG 6th 4 0 0 0 6 Junior totals 16 9 3 12 37 Senior totals 87 28 30 58 50 Source:

Ringette career Tapani's mother played ringette and introduced her daughter to the sport early on. Susanna began playing organized ringette around age five or six. At age sixteen, she made her debut in Finland's premier national ringette league, the Ringeten SM-sarja (RSMs; rebranded as SM Ringette in 2021), with Raision Nuorisokiekko (RNK; team has been called the RNK Flyers since 2015).

Tapani has played the entirety of her senior club career (as of 2024) with Raision Nuorisokiekko and contributed to Finnish Championship victories in 2011, 2017, and 2023. She served as team captain from the 2015–16 season through the conclusion of the 2022–23 season.

As one of SM Ringette's most outstanding players for more than a decade, Tapani led the league in scoring three times (2014–15, 2015–16, and 2022–23) and received the Agnes Jacks Trophy as the most valuable player (MVP) of SM Ringette six times (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2023). She was selected as an All Star in more than half of her seasons played in SM Ringette – eight times (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022 and 2023) across fifteen seasons. Three years later, she participated in the 2012 World Junior Ringette Championships, at which Finland iced one team, and took home a silver medal.

She has also played at the senior level with the Finnish national ringette team at the World Ringette Championships in 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022, winning gold at each tournament.

Career statistics Note: Blank cells indicate missing data. Totals are calculated from incomplete statistics.

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2009-10 RNK RSMs 15 30 25 55 28 2010-11 RNK RSMs 23 71 55 126 24 5 17 10 27 2 2011-12 RNK RSMs 27 106 51 157 34 6 17 2 19 10 2012-13 RNK RSMs 20 74 62 136 52 2 7 1 8 6 2013-14 RNK RSMs 3 9 6 15 4 3 9 6 15 4 2014-15 RNK RSMs 21 97 56 153 32 5 13 8 21 10 2015-16 RNK Flyers RSMs 29 131 106 237 38 8 27 14 41 18 2016-17 RNK Flyers RSMs 25 110 65 175 10 6 16 10 26 0 2017-18 RNK Flyers RSMs 21 68 48 116 30 6 18 10 28 12 2018-19 RNK Flyers RSMs 12 42 23 65 10 – – – – – 2019-20 RNK Flyers RSMs 21 73 37 110 44 – – – – – 2020-21 RNK Flyers RSMs 24 88 54 142 54 – – – – – 2021-22 RNK Flyers SMR 18 51 28 79 26 – – – – – 2022-23 RNK Flyers SMR 33 129 84 213 20 2023-24 RNK Flyers SMR 10 33 15 48 12 0 0 0 0 0SM Ringette totals 302 1,112 715 1,827 418 41 124 61 184 62 Sources:

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2009 Finland (White) U19 WC 8 15 9 24 8 2010 Finland WC 2012 Finland U19 WC 2016 Finland WC 2 6 3 9 2 2017 Finland WC 2019 Finland WC 2022 Finland WC 2 8 8 16 0 Junior totals 8 15 9 24 8 Senior totals 9 24 20 44 4 Sources:

Awards and honors AwardYearInternational World Junior Championship Gold Medal 2009 World Junior Championship Silver Medal 2012 World Championship Gold Medal 2010 2016 2017 2019 2022 World Championship Tournament MVP 2022 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2014–15 2015–16 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23

Personal life Tapani studied sports management at the Turku University of Applied Sciences.

Tapani is the subject of a Finnish documentary, ('Icebreaker'), which follows her life as she competes in elite ringette, ice hockey, and in-line hockey from 2015 to 2019.