Vilma Vaattovaara (born 10 March 1993) 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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

and former member of the Finnish national team, currently serving as goaltending coach with the Streatham Youth Ice Hockey Club, the youth affiliate of Streatham IHC. Her coaching oversight includes the Streatham Black Hawks in the Division II of the

National Ice Hockey League The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) is a set of professional ice hockey leagues administered by the English Ice Hockey Association. It is currently the second tier of British ice hockey, below the Elite Ice Hockey League. Formerly called the ...

(NIHL) in addition to the club's

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

and junior teams. Representing Finland, she won a bronze medal at the

2015 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2015 IIHF Women's World Championship was the 16th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2016 competition. Venues included the Malmö Isstadion, and Rosengårds I ...

Playing career

Vaattovaara played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

with the

New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey The New Hampshire Wildcats represent the University of New Hampshire. They have won five ECAC championships between 1986 and 1996. When the Wildcats joined Hockey East, they won four Hockey East titles from 2006 to 2009. The Wildcats have more win ...

program in the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

(HEA)

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

during 2012 to 2016, and with the London Dragons C of the British Universities Ice Hockey Association (BUIHA) in 2018–19. In her native Finland, she played in the

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

with the

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

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, ...

, with whom she won the Aurora Borealis Cup in 2011; she recorded the league's best

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

and

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

in the 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2017–18 seasons.

Personal life

Vaattovaara has a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in zoology/pre-veterinary medicine from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

and is a veterinary student at the

Royal Veterinary College , mottoeng = Confront disease at onset , established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949) , endowment = £10.5 million (2021) , budget = £106.0 million (20 ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. , she is the logistics head for the independently operated University of London Dragons organisation, which manages the various London Dragons ice hockey teams in the BUIHA. Her siblings also played ice hockey – her elder brother, Ville, was a goaltender in the Finnish junior leagues and her younger sister, Viivi, was a

defenseman 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 ...

in the Naisten Liiga and played four years of NCAA hockey, one Division I season with the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's fo ...

and three

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

seasons with the

Buffalo State Bengals The Buffalo State Bengals are composed of 18 teams representing Buffalo State College in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, ice hockey, soccer, swimming & diving, and track and field. Men's sports inclu ...

References

External links

* 1993 births Living people Finnish women's ice hockey goaltenders New Hampshire Wildcats women's ice hockey players HPK Kiekkonaiset players Ilves Naiset players Finnish ice hockey coaches Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in England Finnish expatriate ice hockey coaches in England Alumni of the Royal Veterinary College People from Kirkkonummi {{Finland-icehockey-goaltender-stub