Sanni Vanhanen

Sanni Vanhanen (born 1 July 2005) is a Finnish ice hockey player for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) and member of the Finnish national team.

Sanni Vanhanen
Born	(2005-07-01) 1 July 2005 (age 20) Nokia, Finland
Height	168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb; 9 st 11 lb)
Position	Centre
Shoots	Left
SDHL team Former teams	Brynäs IF IFK Helsinki Ilves Tampere
National team	Finland
Playing career	2019–present
Medal record Olympic Games 2022 Beijing Ice hockey World Championship 2021 Canada 2024 United States 2025 Czechia

Vanhanen was the youngest player to represent Finland at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship and was the youngest player to compete in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics.^[1][2]

Playing career

Vanhanen began playing ice hockey with the youth department of HC Nokia in her hometown of Nokia, in the Pirkanmaa region of southwestern Finland. As HC Nokia did not have a girls' ice hockey section, she played with HC Nokia's top boys' teams for her age. In the 2017–18 season, her last with HC Nokia, she played with the club's boys' teams in the under-12 (U12; E1) AAA league and the U13 (D2) AA and U13 (D2) AAA leagues (see minor ice hockey).^[3]

Vanhanen joined the youth department of Tappara hockey club in Tampere, a neighboring municipality some 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Nokia, ahead of the 2018–19 season.^[4] Like HC Nokia, Tappara did not have a girls' ice hockey section, and in her first season with the club, she played in the boys' D1 (U14) AAA with Tappara Musta (lit. 'Tappara Black') and also appeared in a few matches as a substitute with Tappara's other D1 AAA team, Tappara Sininen ('Tappara Blue'). In the D1 AAA preliminary series (alkusarja), she ranked sixth of all Tappara Musta players for scoring, with 10 points in 16 games, and tied for third in team assists, with 7. Facing new and more challenging opponents in the regular season (jatkosarja), her scoring was limited to 2 goals and four assists for 6 points in 15 games.

During the 2021–22 season, she played in the U16 SM-sarja with the men's under-16 team of Tappara and on loan with the Tampereen Ilves Naiset in the Naisten Liiga (NSML; rebranded as Auroraliiga in 2024).

She later won two Aurora Borealis Cup championships with IFK Helsinki.^[5]

In November 2024, Vanhanen committed to playing college ice hockey with the Ohio State Buckeyes women's ice hockey program as an incoming freshman for the 2025–26 season.^[6]

International play

Vanhanen participated in the 2019 Women's U16 European Cup, winning silver with the Finnish team.^[7] She joined the Finnish national under-18 team in the 2019–20 season, playing in nineteen international matches in addition to competing at the 2020 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, where Finland finished fourth.^[8]

Vanhanen's first invitation to a senior national team training camp was the roster selection camp for the World Championship in March 2021. National team head coach Pasi Mustonen described her as a player with "absolutely tremendous potential" and identified her adaptability as a key attribute that led to her selection.^[9]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2017–18	HC Nokia Black	U13 AA		6	7	12	19	0		–	–	–	–	–
2017–18	HC Nokia Orange	U13 AAA		25	11	14	25	4		–	–	–	–	–
2018–19	Tappara Black	U14 AAA		31	5	11	16	4		–	–	–	–	–
2018–19	Tappara Blue	U14 AAA		4	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
2019–20	Tappara Black	U14 AAA		22	8	4	12	2		–	–	–	–	–
2019–20	Tappara Blue	U14 AAA		1	1	1	2	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Tappara Black	U15 AAA		15	3	6	9	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Tappara Blue	U15 AAA		1	0	1	1	0		–	–	–	–	–
2020–21	Ilves (L)	NSML		2	2	2	4	0		7	1	1	2	0
2021–22	Tappara Black	U15 AAA		2	0	0	0	0		–	–	–	–	–
2021–22	Tappara U16	U16 SM-sarja		28	5	4	9	2		–	–	–	–	–
2021–22	Ilves (L)	NSML		4	2	1	3	0		–	–	–	–	–
2022–23	HIFK	NSML		22	18	22	40	4		9	12	8	20	0
2023–24	HIFK	NSML		32	27	39	66	12		11	6	8	14	0
Naisten Liiga totals				60	49	64	113	16		27	19	17	36	0

Sources:^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]}

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2020	Finland	U18	4th		6	0	0	0	0
2021	Finland	WC			4	0	1	1	0
2022	Finland	OG			7	0	1	1	0
2022	Finland	EYOF			2	2	2	4	2
2022	Finland	U18			5	3	3	6	2
2022	Finland	WC	6th		7	0	1	1	6
2023	Finland	U18	4th		6	3	2	5	2
2023	Finland	WC	5th		7	0	6	6	0
2024	Finland	WC			7	1	0	1	0
2025	Finland	WC			7	0	3	3	0
Junior totals					19	8	7	15	6
Senior totals					39	1	12	13	6

Sources: ^[23][24]

Awards and honors

Award	Year
Naisten Liiga
Aurora Borealis Cup Champion	2023
	2024
Karoliina Rantamäki Award (Playoff MVP)	2023[25]
Noora Räty Award (Rookie of the Year)	2023[26]
International
World Championship Bronze Medal	2021, 2024, 2025
Olympic Bronze Medal	2022
EYOF Bronze Medal	2022
World U18 All-Star Team	2022[27]
World U18 Bronze Medal	2022[28]
World U18 Top-3 Player on Team	2022[29]
	2023[30]

See also

• List of Finnish women in North American collegiate ice hockey
• List of Olympic women's ice hockey players for Finland