Sallinen’s historic Olympic career led to Hockey Hall of Fame

Riikka Sallinen was team manager of the Finland women’s national team in 2013 when players started joking with her about making a comeback.

Sallinen had been retired from playing for 10 years, during which time she had three children.

“I took that joke a little bit too seriously,” Sallinen said with a laugh during an interview last month. “I was very unsure, to be honest, if I could manage to do it or not. But I’d give it a try and my body responded in a very good way.”

Indeed, Sallinen was still a strong, reliable forward during her second go-round in international competition from 2013-19. Now Sallinen will become the first European women’s player to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame when she’s inducted in Toronto on Monday.

“It’s just the legendary career she’s had, how long she played and the level she played that long at [that] makes her a Hall of Famer,” said United States forward Kendall Coyne Schofield, “and a good, person too, a good competitor, a respected competitor. The way she played the game, she played it the right way. When you think of Team Finland, there are a few that come to my mind right away, and she’s one of them. So, it’s awesome to see her go into the Hall of Fame.”

Sallinen was elected to the Hall on the first ballot.

“I played for a long time and felt I had some good longevity, but to see what she did, step away, have a few kids and come back, that’s an even tougher road to do it,” said former Canada forward Jayna Hefford, who played internationally from 1997-2014 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. “To come back that long later and still be at that level is pretty impressive.”

Sallinen helped Finland win a bronze medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first to feature women’s hockey. When Finland won bronze again at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, the then-44-year-old became the oldest player to win an Olympic medal in ice hockey; her countryman, Teemu Selanne, won bronze at age 43 at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She had 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in 23 games across four Olympics.

Sallinen also played in eight IIHF Women’s World Championships, winning seven medals — six bronze (1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2015 and 2017) and one silver (2019) — and scoring 60 points (25 goals, 35 assists) in 45 games.

She also had a long professional career, playing 11 seasons in Naisten SM-sarja, Finland’s elite league, where she had 395 points (201 goals, 194 points) in 135 regular-season games, 86 points (36 goals, 50 assists) in 41 playoff…