Pirjo Hannele Ahonen (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Nieminen, previously Blomqvist; born 5 November 1970) is a Finnish retired

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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

and

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

player and a former member of the Finnish women's national ice hockey team and national bandy team. In ice hockey, she won a bronze medal with the Finnish national team at the

1999 IIHF Women's World Championship The 1999 IIHF Women's World Championships was held between March 8–14, 1999, in the city of Espoo in Finland. Team Canada won their fifth consecutive gold medal at the World Championships defeating the United States. Canada skated to a solid ...

and competed in the women's ice hockey tournament at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

. Her ice hockey club career was played in the Naisten SM-sarja with

KalPa Naiset Kalevan Pallo Naiset or KalPa Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga (NSML), the premier women's ice hockey league in Finland. Founded in 1990, they play in Kuopio, the largest city in the eastern-central province of North Savo, at ...

Tampereen Ilves Naiset Tampereen Ilves Naiset (lit. 'Tampere Lynx Women') are an ice hockey team in the Naisten Liiga, the premier women's ice hockey league in Finland. They are the representative women's team of the multi-sport club Ilves, based in Tampere, Pirkanm ...

, and

JYP Jyväskylä Naiset JYP Naiset or JYP Jyväskylä Naiset is a Finnish ice hockey team in the Naisten Mestis. Their home is the Jyväskylän harjoitusjäähalli ('Jyväskylä training ice hall') in Jyväskylä, Central Finland. JYP Naiset have won the Aurora Bore ...

, which was also known as the Jyväskylän Hockey Cats (JyHC) during her tenure. Ahonen holds the record for most games played with the Finnish women's national bandy team, appearing in 63 international matches with the team. Having represented Finland at a number of

Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...

s, she won bronze medals at the tournaments in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. Her bandy club career was played with

Jyväskylän Seudun Palloseura Jyväskylän Seudun Palloseura (abbreviated JPS) is a sports club from Jyväskylä, Finland. The club was formed in 1962 and their home ground is at the Vehkalammen kenttä. The men's football team currently plays in the Kolmonen (Third Divisio ...

(JPS), Botnia-69 Helsinki, Veiterä Lappeenranta, and

Mikkelin Kampparit Mikkelin Kampparit is a bandy club in Mikkeli, Finland. The team colours are black and white. The club was founded in 1972, the same year as when Finland's Bandy Association separated from the Finnish Football Association The Football Associatio ...

. Ahonen was named the Finnish Women's Bandy Player of the Year by the

Finnish Bandy Association Finland's Bandy Association (Finnish: ''Suomen Jääpalloliitto'', Swedish: ''Finlands Bandyförbund'') is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Finland. Bandy was one of the sports for which the Ball Association of Finland, founded in 190 ...

three times, in 2005, 2007, and 2012.

References

External links

* * * 1970 births Living people Finnish bandy players Finnish women's ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ilves Naiset players JYP Jyväskylä Naiset players Jyväskylän Hockey Cats players KalPa Naiset players Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Sportspeople from Jyväskylä {{Finland-icehockey-player-stub