I think Riikka Sallinen being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame is a piece of Finnish women's ice hockey history. She's had such a long career and a very impressive career. I remember starting my career and she was retired. She became our team manager and we were kind of kidding with her about making a comeback, and then the next year she was in full gear, ready to make a comeback. It's kind of a crazy story. Eventually I was lucky to become her linemate and obviously teammate.
The first time I met her was actually my first World Championship. We were playing in 2009 at home (Hameenlinna, Finland) and they invited all the alumni to play a game. She was retired and was there, and I remember watching the game, then we got to meet the former players after that. I remember watching that game and everyone's like, 'Oh, she could still play.'
By 2013 she was retired for 10 years, she had three kids and a bunch of surgeries. I don't know how many surgeries, but I knew it was a combination of a lot of different things. I still remember, she was our team manager and we were having a day off and we were convincing her to get on the ice with us. Right away, we were all really impressed after she had had such a long break. I still remember the first camp when she made the comeback, it was like, 'Wow, she's something else.' To do that and to see the whole journey, she just right away became so competitive. She wanted to be back where she left off right away, and you could see her patience, she just wanted to be back, so she was working so hard. It was very inspirational, for sure.
She's just extremely disciplined. When everyone else after games would go and say hi to the family, she would find a bike somewhere. She couldn't run because of all her surgeries, so she would be biking. When people were asking where she was, it was like, 'Oh, somewhere in the rink on a bike.' She'd be there for another half an hour, hour after we were off the ice.
She's really funny too. She's a jokester. When she was on the team, she was the one with the most jokes. Just a character in the locker room, for sure.
As a teammate she's extremely competitive and she likes all the details in the game. We would talk a lot about just small details and that's something that definitely has inspired me. It's something I myself love about hockey. I like to treat those small details because in the end, the small things will matter in a situation where you need to find your way out of something. Like in standard hockey, she gave another vision to the way of playing, I would say.
When they asked me about designing the logo for the 2019 World Championship, I knew I was going to be her last World Championship and obviously as a teammate, linemate and even as a friend, I was really happy to have the opportunity. I could give my kind of thank you for everything she's given me throughout her career. It was really nice, she didn't know anything about it, so she was shocked when she found out I put her on the actual logo of the World Championship. It was a nice moment.
She's a huge inspiration for me. Before I started with the national team, she was one of those players, maybe the main player I was looking up to. She's a forward and was known for being a goal-scorer, having a good eye for setting up goals, making goals. She was one of those players who could actually be at the same level as the U.S. and Canadian players. At that time there was such a big gap between them, and that gave you some inspiration that we could do the same. Maybe not the same, because I don't want to compare me and her, but it definitely inspired everybody coming after that, if we work hard, we may be able to have the chance to battle with the best in the world.
