Kirsi Maaria Hänninen (born 3 October 1976 in Joensuu, Finland) is a Finnish retired ice hockey defenceman and pesäpallo player. She played 116 games with the Finnish national ice hockey team and won a bronze medal with them in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

Playing career

Over her ten-year ice hockey career, Hänninen played with five different teams in the Naisten SM-sarja, the highest level women's hockey league in Finland. She spent four seasons, from 1996 to 2000, with JYP Jyväskylä and won the SM-sarja Championship with them in 1996 and 1997. She also played with JoKP (1992–93), Kiekko-Espoo (1993–94), KalPa (1995–96), and

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times ...

(2001-02). Hänninen is well known in Finland for her career in the

Superpesis The Superpesis, known as SM-sarja from 1955 to 1989, is the top professional pesäpallo league in Finland. It was created in 1990 to replace the SM-sarja which was fundamentally an amateur league. The Superpesis is directly overseen by the Finnis ...

, Finland's top pesäpallo league, where she competed from 1993 to 2005 and was a five-time Finnish Champion.

Personal life

Hänninen is a founding member of

VRT Finland VRT may refer to: * Vehicle registration tax (Ireland) * Virtual reality therapy Virtual reality therapy (VRT), also known as virtual reality immersion therapy (VRIT), simulation for therapy (SFT), virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), and c ...

, an underwater structural inspection company operating in the Baltic Sea and Central Europe, and currently serves as CEO of the company.

Awards and honors

References

External links

* * 1976 births Living people Finnish women's ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics JYP Jyväskylä Naiset players KalPa Naiset players Kiekko-Espoo Naiset players Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Oulun Kärpät Naiset players Sportspeople from Joensuu Pesäpallo players {{Finland-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub