Julia Liikala (born 20 March 2001) is a Finnish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

winger and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team. She is signed with the Hockey Club Ambrì-Piotta Girls (HCAP Girls) of the Swiss Women's League (SWHL A) for the 2024–25 season.

Playing career

Liikala was born and raised in

Peräseinäjoki Peräseinäjoki is a former municipality of Finland. It was located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a population of 3,653 (2004) and covered an area of 459.13 km2 of ...

, which was merged with

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

in 2005. As a child, she began playing ice hockey with the local club, S-Kiekko. Her debut in a women's league came at age 13, in a

Naisten Suomi-sarja The Naisten Suomi-sarja (), distinguished as the Jääkiekon naisten Suomi-sarja (), is the third-tier women's ice hockey league in Finland. It was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2003 and is the lowest tier of national ice h ...

game between S-Kiekko and the Kisa-Eagles on 7 February 2015, where she scored the sixth goal in a 10–0

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used ...

. At age 16, Liikala considered joining

Team Kuortane Team Kuortane is an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga, the premier women's hockey league in Finland. They are based at the Kuortaneen urheilulukio in Kuortane, a small town in South Ostrobothnia, and play at the (). The team was founded by ...

of the

Kuortaneen urheilulukio Kuortaneen lukio ja urheilulukio or the Kuortane Lukio and Sports Academy is a general and sports-specialised in Kuortane, Finland. The sports academy is overseen by the Finnish Olympic Committee and affiliated with the Kuortane Olympic Trainin ...

Kuortane Kuortane is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The neighboring municipalities of Kuortane are Al ...

, east of Seinäjoki, where a significant number of players from the Finnish national U18 team played and attended secondary school (). Ultimately, she felt that Kuortane was too close to home and opted instead to sign with

HPK Kiekkonaiset HPK Kiekkonaiset are an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga (NSML), the premier women's ice hockey league in Finland. They are the representative women’s team of Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK), a multi-sport club in Hämeenlinna, Kanta-Häme, ...

and continue her studies in

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

, away.

International play

As a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

player with the Finnish national U18 team, Liikala participated in three

IIHF World Women's U18 Championships The IIHF Women's World U18 Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship, is an annual ice hockey tournament for national women's under-18 (U18) ice hockey teams, administrated by the International Ice Hockey Feder ...

, winning a bronze medal in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. In 2019, Finnish national team head coach,

Pasi Mustonen Pasi Mustonen (born 11 October 1960) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and retired defenceman, currently serving as head coach of the Finnish women's national ice hockey team (Naisleijonat). He is the first coach of the women’s national team to b ...

, described Liikala as having an extremely high potential of earning a roster position on the team for the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

and she was selected to represent Finland at the

2020 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship was scheduled to be an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was scheduled to be contested in Halifax and Truro, Canada, from 31 March to 10 April 2020. On ...

. She was officially named to the roster on 4 March 2020, prior to the cancellation of the tournament on 7 March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. She had previously appeared with the national team at all of the tournaments of the

2019–20 Women's Euro Hockey Tour The 2019–20 Women’s Euro Hockey Tour was the second season of the six-team Women's Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) format, originally implemented in the 2018–19 season. It was played over four tournaments: a four nation tournament in Finland, a fiv ...

. Liikala ultimately made her

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, recording two assists in seven games and winning bronze. As predicted, she was selected to represent

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and took home an Olympic bronze medal. She recorded her first World Championship goal in the preliminary round of the

2022 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship is an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and scheduled to be contested in Herning and Frederikshavn, Denmark from 26 August to 4 September 2022. ...

, the lone goal scored for Finland in a 1–4 loss to .

Statistics

References

External links

* * 2001 births Living people Finnish women's ice hockey forwards HIFK Naiset players HPK Kiekkonaiset players Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Naisten Liiga All-Stars Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Seinäjoki {{Finland-icehockey-bio-stub