Salla Kyhälä

Salla Kyhälä^[1] (born January 28, 1983, in Espoo) is a retired elite Finnish ringette player and world champion in both ringette and ice cross downhill. She played semi-pro ringette as a centre for Espoon Kiekkoseura [fi]^[2] in the elite Finnish semi-professional league, SM Ringette^[3],and the Saskatoon Wild and BC Thunder in Canada's semi-pro National Ringette League. Kyhälä was also a member of the Finland national ringette team several times.

Salla Kyhälä

Ringette player, Kyhälä (3rd from left) at the start of a race during the 2011 edition of the Extreme Downhill Skating World Championships: Red Bull Crashed Ice
Personal information
Nationality	Finland
Born	(1983-01-28) 28 January 1983 (age 42) Ylivieska, Finland
Sport
Country	Finland  Canada World
Position	Centre-Forward
Shoots	Left
League	SM Ringette National Ringette League
Team	Team Finland Sr. Espoon Kiekkoseura [fi], SM Ringette BC Thunder, NRL Saskatoon Wild, NRL
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd WRC 4 0 0 SMRC (Nationals) 2 ? 1 Total 6 0 1 Ringette World Ringette Championships Representing  Finland 2004 Canada 2007 Canada 2010 Finland 2013 Canada SM Ringette Championships (Nationals) 2 1 Ice cross downhill Crashed ice Representing  Finland 2011 Quebec City, Canada 2014 Quebec City, Canada 2015 St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Updated on August 28, 2023

Kyhälä was also the Women's World Champion in the World Extreme Downhill Skating Championships in ice cross downhill (a.k.a. Extreme Downhill Skating) three times.

Ringette

Salla Kyhälä has been playing ringette since she was 6 years old.

World Ringette Championships

Kyhälä played for the Finland national ringette team under-20 team (U20) in the World Ringette Champuonships.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2010 World Ringette Championships, in the final game against Canada, she scored four goals giving her country the gold medal and world title.^[4]

SM Ringette

Kyhälä reached the semi-professional ranks in Tuusula in 1999 where she played for three seasons for club Tuusulan ringeten in the SM Ringette league, Finland's elite semi-pro ringette league.

Kyhälä helped her club achieve their first silver medal at the Finnish National Championship in 2000 and their first bronze medal in 2001. She was then traded to club Espoon Kiekkoseura [fi] in 2003. In 2005, she was voted among the Kentälliseen All Stars of the elite SM Ringette league.

National Ringette League

Kyhälä moved to Canada in 2008 to play in the National Ringette League. She played 2 seasons for the Saskatoon Wild and later for the BC Thunder. In 2009, the honour of the most valuable player (Most Valuable Player) was awarded to her by the Canadian league.

Statistics

Club

International

Statistics per competition

Year	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM		Results
2004	World Ringette Championships		?	?	?	?	-	?		Gold
2007	World Ringette Championships[5]		4	10	8	18	-	0		Gold
2010	World Ringette Championships		5	14	7	21	-	0		Gold
2013	World Ringette Championships		?	?	?	?	-	?		Gold

Awards

• 2 (SM Ringette) Finnish championship titles (all won with Espoon Kiekkoseura [fi]).
• Gold Medal at the 2007 World Ringette Championships
• Gold Medal at the 2010 World Ringette Championships

Individual honours

• Voted to the All-Star Team for the 2004–05 season in Finland's elite semi-pro ringette league, SM Ringette.
• Voted MVP player in the National Ringette League - Canada for the 2008–09 season
• Voted to the 2010 World Ringette Championships All-Star Team^[6]

Extreme downhill skating

Kyhälä was a gold medalist at the Red Bull Crashed Ice races in Quebec in 2011 and 2014. In 2015 Kyhälä won the first Extreme Downhill Skating World Championship in women's extreme downhill skating finishing in front of Jacqueline Legere, thanks to her victories at Saint Paul and Edmonton.^[7]

Sources

• Quebec Red Bull Crashed ice (in Finnish)