2024 Top 25 Under 25: Petra Nieminen (6)
Make way for the stellar number six, Finland's own Petra Nieminen.
Make way for the highest-ranked European in the TIG Top 25 Under 25, forward Petra Nieminen. She turned 25 in May, but as she played most of the season at 24 years old, she's still eligible to make the list.
Last Season
Nieminen racked up a trio of SDHL scoring titles: Most Goals, Most Powerplay Goals, and Most Playoff Points. Scoring 45 points (24 goals, 21 assists) in 33 regular-season games marks something of a down year for her, which indicates just how good she is. She won her fifth SDHL title with Norbotten juggernauts Luleå/MSSK.
Internationally, she won World Championship bronze with Team Finland and was named a World Championship Top Three Player on Team for the second year running.
Career
A native of Tampere, Finland, Nieminen began her career with Tappara, also known as the sports club in Tampere without a delightfully terrifying logo.
(If you're not familiar with the Ilves lynx, don't say I didn't warn you.)
She then moved to Team Kuortane in the SM-Sarja (now Naisten Liiga) in 2015. During her three years with Kuortane, Nieminen put up 79 points (42 goals, 37 assists). Unlike other Naisten Liiga teams, Kuortane serves as a development team and a school program in one, so once she aged out of the system she went to Luleå Hockey/MSSK in the SDHL in 2018, where she's been ever since.
As a driving force in the Luleå/MSSK dynasty with five SDHL championship titles to her name, Nieminen puts up points left and right. She's a strong forward with an edge to her game who can be counted on to make plays as well as score goals. She scored 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in her first season as she adjusted to life in Sweden, but once she got going she got going, and more than doubled her total for the 2019-2020 season with 25 goals and 30 assists for 55 total points in the regular season. Since then she's never dropped below 45 points a season.
Internationally, Nieminen has represented Finland since her U18 days. She made her World Championship debut in 2016. She's a three-time World Championship bronze medalist and also has one silver medal: she scored what should have been the game-winning goal to give Finland the gold medal on home ice in 2019.
In 2018 Nieminen was named to the Finnish Olympic team. Only 18 years old at the time, she was the youngest player on the team and scored five points in six games to help Finland take bronze. Four years later, she did it again, this time with an 'A' on her sweater.
Future
Now this is an interesting one. Although she's played her entire career in Europe and opted to stay close to home instead of going the NCAA route, several of her teammates and closest friends on both Team Finland and Luleå/MSSK joined the PWHL for 2024-2025. Nieminen's contract runs through 2025-2026, but it could contain an out clause should she decide to declare for next year's PWHL draft. At 25 years old she's approaching the prime of her career and she'll be dangerous no matter where her career takes her. The women's hockey world is her oyster at the moment and she'll be welcome wherever she decides to go next.
Too High or Too Low?
Too low. A player of her caliber belongs in the top five.
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