Viivi Vainikka

Viivi Vainikka (born 23 December 2001) is a Finnish ice hockey player for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) and member of the Finnish national team. She was selected by the Minnesota Frost in the 2026 PWHL Draft.

Playing career Vainikka began playing hockey at the age of five. She made her debut in the Naisten Liiga, the top flight of Finnish women's hockey at the age of 15 with Team Kuortane. Across four years with the team, she scored 129 points in 112 games. After scoring a career-best 52 points in 30 games in the 2018–19 season, including 28 goals, she won the Emma Laaksonen Award for fair play.

She left Finland to sign a two-year contract with Luleå HF/MSSK in Sweden ahead of the 2020–21 SDHL season, joining the roster with the highest concentration of Finnish national team players in the world, Finland included. She scored twice in her first two SDHL games. In November 2020, along with four other Finnish national team and Luleå teammates, she was forced to miss several SDHL games while being quarantined under Finnish law after a national team camp where a player tested positive for COVID-19.

In the 2026 PWHL Draft, she was selected in the second round, 21st overall, by the Minnesota Frost.

International play Vainikka won silver with the Finnish national team at the 2019 Women's World Championship. She was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, prior to the cancellation of the tournament International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 2 January 2026, she was named to Finland's roster to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM2017 Finland U18 5th 3 0 0 0 02018 Finland U18 5th 5 2 2 4 02019 Finland U18 6 2 4 6 22019 WC 7 1 3 4 02021 Finland WC 7 1 0 1 02022 Finland OG 6 2 1 3 2 2022 Finland WC 6th 7 2 2 4 0 2023 Finland WC 5th 7 5 5 10 0 2024 Finland WC 7 1 0 1 0 2025 Finland WC 2 0 0 0 02026 Finland OG 6th 5 1 0 1 0 Junior totals 14 4 6 10 2 Senior totals 48 13 11 24 2

Awards and honors