Nelli Laitinen

Nelli Laitinen
Born	(2002-04-29) 29 April 2002 Lohja, Finland
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)
Position	Defense
Shoots	Left
NCAA team Former teams	Minnesota Golden Gophers Kiekko-Espoo KJT Kerava
National team	Finland
Playing career	2017–present
Medal record Olympic Games 2022 Beijing Ice hockey World Championship 2019 Finland 2021 Canada

Nelli Laitinen (born 29 April 2002) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing in the NCAA Division I with the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program.

Playing career

Laitinen began her college ice hockey career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) conference of the NCAA as an incoming freshman for the 2022–23 season. Despite missing eight games due to an upper-body injury that kept her sidelined for two months, she tallied 18 points and ranked third for points of all team defenseman. Her impressive first season was recognized with her selection to the Watch List for the Hockey Commissioners Association National Rookie of the Year and naming to the USCHO All-Rookie and the WCHA All-Rookie teams.

International play

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

Laitinen made her senior national team debut at the 2018 4 Nations Cup in Saskatoon, Canada, where she contributed one assist in four games to Finland's bronze medal victory. Later that season, she represented Finland at the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship. At sixteen years old, she was the youngest player on the team and 29 years younger than Finland's eldest player, Riikka Sallinen. She recorded one assist in seven games as Finland won the first World Championship silver medal in team history.

She won bronze medals representing Finland at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

At the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship, she notched 3 goals and 7 assists in seven games, ranking third on the team points table in a tie with forwards Noora Tulus and Viivi Vainikka, each scoring 10 points. Her totals ranked second of all Finnish defensemen, trailing captain Jenni Hiirikoski by just 1 assist.

Personal life

Laitinen's older brother, Villi (born 1999), is a professional ice hockey defenseman in the Finnish Liiga. When she joined the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the jersey number 9, which she had worn in her career to that point, was already in use and she selected 7 as her new number because her brother had worn it in the past.

At a pre-Olympic press conference in January 2022, she confirmed that she was in a relationship with NHL player Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

Her major at the University of Minnesota is in business and marketing. Swedish national team player Josefin Bouveng was one of her four roommates during her first year at the university.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Naisten SM-sarja was rebranded as Naisten Liiga in 2017. Espoo Blues renamed as Kiekko-Espoo in 2019.

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2016-17	HAKI	N. Mestis		8	4	2	6	0		–	–	–	–	–
2016-17	HAKI	N. Suomi-sarja		2	2	0	2	0		–	–	–	–	–
2016-17	KJT (L)	NSMs		1	0	0	0	0		4	0	0	0	2
2017-18	HAKI U16	U16 Mestis		18	3	8	11	0		–	–	–	–	–
2017-18	Espoo Blues	NSML		11	2	1	3	0		10	1	4	5	2
2017-18	KJT (L)	NSML		3	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
2018-19	Espoo Blues	NSML		27	12	27	39	6		6	0	5	5	0
2019-20	Kiekko-Espoo	NSML		28	7	24	31	12		6	6	8	14	6
2020-21	Kiekko-Espoo	NSML		24	13	24	37	20		10	1	6	7	6
2021-22	Kiekko-Espoo	NSML		23	7	24	31	16		10	8	13	21	8
2022-23	Minnesota Golden Gophers	NCAA		30	3	15	18	4		–	–	–	–	—
Naisten Liiga totals				117	41	100	141	54		46	16	36	52	24

Note: Postseason results for the 2016–17 season are from the qualification series (Finnish: Karsintasarja) rather than the playoffs and are not calculated with playoff totals.
Sources: Elite Prospects, Finnish Ice Hockey Association

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2017	Finland U18	WW18	5th		5	0	1	1	4
2018	Finland U18	WW18	5th		5	0	4	4	0
2019	Finland U18	WW18			6	1	3	4	3
2019	Finland	WW			7	0	1	1	2
2020	Finland U18	WW18	4th		6	3	1	4	2
2021	Finland	WW			7	1	0	1	4
2022	Finland	OG			7	2	5	7	4
2022	Finland	WW	6th		7	1	4	5	6
2023	Finland	WW	5th		7	3	7	10	2
Junior totals					22	4	9	13	10
Senior totals					35	7	17	24	18

Sources: Finnish Ice Hockey Association, International Ice Hockey Federation

Honors and achievements

Award	Year
International
WW18 Top-3 Player on Team	2018, 2019, 2020
WW18 All-Star Team	2019
WW18 Bronze Medal	2019
WW18 Best Defenseman	2020
World Championship Silver Medal	2019
World Championship Bronze Medal	2021
Olympic Bronze Medal	2022
Minnesota Golden Gophers
USCHO All-Rookie Team	2023
WCHA All-Rookie Team	2023
HCA National Rookie of the Year Watch List	2023
Naisten Liiga
All-Star First Team	2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Aurora Borealis Cup Champion	2019, 2021, 2022
Päivi Halonen Award (Best Defenseman)	2020, 2021, 2022
U18 Student Athlete of the Year	2020
Player of the Month	October 2020
Karoliina Rantamäki Award (Playoff MVP)	2022

Sources:

External links

• Career statistics and player information from
• Nelli Laitinen at Olympedia