Sini Karjalainen

Sini Karjalainen (born 30 January 1999) is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national ice hockey team. She plays in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Skellefteå AIK. Her college ice hockey career was played with the Vermont Catamounts of Hockey East in the NCAA Division I.^[1]

Sini Karjalainen
Born	(1999-01-30) 30 January 1999 (age 26) Posio, Finland
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb; 9 st 13 lb)
Position	Defense
Shoots	Left
SDHL team Former teams	Skellefteå AIK Brynäs IF Vermont Catamounts Team Kuortane Rovaniemen Kiekko
National team	Finland
Playing career	2013–present
Medal record Olympic Games 2022 Beijing Ice hockey World Championships 2021 Canada

International play

Karjalainen played with the Finnish women's national U18 team at the IIHF World Women's U18 Championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017.^[2]

She was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, before the tournament was cancelled on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3][4] The 2020 World Championship would have been Karjalainen's debut with the Finnish national team at an IIHF-organized international tournament; she appeared on the national roster for various Euro Hockey Tour tournaments, first in 2016.^[5][6][7]

She ultimately debuted with the senior national at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship as an alternate defenseman on the 25-player roster and skated in five games.^[8]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2013–14	RoKi	N. Mestis		21	5	6	11	4		9	1	1	2	2
2014–15	RoKi	N. Mestis		2	1	1	2	0		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Team Kuortane	NSMs		28	2	7	9	2		2	0	0	0	0
2016–17	Team Kuortane	NSMs		28	1	10	11	0		2	0	0	0	0
2017–18	Team Kuortane	NSML		30	6	10	16	2		8	0	5	5	6
2018–19	Vermont Catamounts	NCAA		36	1	11	12	12		—	—	—	—	—
2019–20	Vermont Catamounts	NCAA		35	5	19	24	20		—	—	—	—	—
2020–21	Vermont Catamounts	NCAA		11	0	1	1	6		—	—	—	—	—
2021–22	Vermont Catamounts	NCAA		21	2	10	12	6		—	—	—	—	—
2022–23	Vermont Catamounts	NCAA		36	3	24	27	4		—	—	—	—	—
Naisten Liiga totals				86	9	27	36	4		12	0	5	5	6
NCAA totals				138	11	65	76	48		–	–	–	–	–

Sources: Elite Prospects,^[9] Hockey East^[10]

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2015	Finland U18	WW18	5th		5	0	0	0	4
2016	Finland U18	WW18	6th		5	1	0	1	4
2017	Finland U18	WW18	5th		4	0	0	0	2
2021	Finland	WW			5	0	0	0	4
2022	Finland	OG			7	0	0	0	2
2022	Finland	WW	6th		4	1	0	1	0
2023	Finland	WW	5th		7	0	2	2	0
Junior totals					14	1	0	1	10
Senior totals					23	1	2	3	6

Sources:^[11][12]

Awards and honors

Award	Year
International
World U18 Top-3 Player on Team	2016, 2017
Olympic Bronze Medal	2022
World Championship Bronze Medal	2021
Vermont Catamounts
Hockey East Rookie of the Week	10 December 2018[13]
Hockey East Rookie of the Month	December 2018[14]
NCAA D1 First Star of the Week	28 October 2019[15]
Hockey East Player of the Week	28 October 2019[16]
Hockey East Defender of the Week	21 February 2023[17]
Hockey East Defender of the Year	2022–23[a][18]
Hockey East First-Team All-Star	2022–23[19]
Naisten Liiga
Finnish Championship Bronze Medal	2018

1. Co-awarded with Megan Carter of the Northeastern Huskies