Päivi Virta

Päivi Virta (previously Halonen, born 3 August 1964) is a Finnish retired ice hockey defender and one of the most highly decorated women in the history of Finnish hockey. As a member of the Finnish national team she won five World Championship bronze medals and five European Women Championship medals, four gold and one bronze.

Päivi Virta
Born (1964-08-03) 3 August 1964
Tampere, Finland
Height 1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Weight 60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Left
Played for Tampereen Ilves
Keravan Shakers
Kiekko-Espoo
Espoo Blues
National team  Finland
Playing career 1982–2006
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Representing  Finland
World Championships
2000 Canada
1999 Finland
1994 United States
1992 Finland
1990 Canada
European Championships
1995 Latvia
1993 Denmark
1991 Czechoslovakia
1989 West Germany
1996 Russia

Playing career

Virta started her premiere league career in the Naisten SM-sarja (renamed Naisten Liiga in 2017) with the Tampereen Ilves in 1982, the same year the league was established. She went on to play in more than 400 games— with Ilves, the Keravan Shakers, Kiekko-Espoo, and the Espoo Blues— in a career that spanned 24 seasons.[1]

Virta saw the Naisten SM-sarja medal podium in every season that she played. She was Finnish Champion fifteen times, more playoff victories than any other player in league history. She also collected six silver Finnish Championship medals and three bronze Finnish Championship.[2]

International play

Virta played in over 140 international matches with the Finnish national team and won bronze medals at the IIHF World Women's Championship in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1999, and 2000; gold medals at the European Women Championships in 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1995; and a bronze medal at the 1996 European Women Championships.

Awards and honors

In 2004 Virta was the first women's hockey player ever to be awarded the Finnish Ice Hockey Association President's Trophy, annually bestowed upon a person who has made significant contributions to Finnish ice hockey. She is also one of fewer-than-ten women to have been inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame Finland and thus to be named a Suomen Jääkiekkoleijona (Finnish Ice Hockey Lion).

The Finnish Ice Hockey Association presents the Päivi Halonen Award annually to the best defender in the Naisten Liiga.

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References

Significant content in this article is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at fi:Päivi Virta; see its history for attribution.

  1. "Jääkiekkoleijona numero 235: Päivi Virta (Halonen)" [Ice Hockey Lion number 235: Päivi Virta (Halonen)] (in Finnish). Finnish Ice Hockey Association. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  2. "Player Profile: Päivi Halonen a.k.a. "Päivi Virta"". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 8 August 2019.

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com

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