Susanna Tapani was one of the top European players to join the PWHL this year, bringing a veteran presence and elite skillset that has Minnesota excited.
Susanna Tapani playing for PWHL Minnesota at the PWHL Preseason CampSusanna Tapani made an immediate impact on those watching, playing against and with her at the PWHL Preseason Camp.
It was the first North American look at Tapani in years, and her dominance was evident. Tapani has long been considered one of the best Finnish players of all-time, and PWHL Minnesota was pleased to draft her, and then agree to a two-year contract with the two-time Olympic medalist and five time World Championship medalist.
"I played against her in international hockey, it stands out even more being on the ice with her, she's incredibly talented, and incredibly athletic," said USA national team member and PWHL Minnesota teammate of Tapani's Kelly Pannek.
"The first few days you'd never be able to tell she'd been away from the game. She's a complete player. She's one of the players it's really fun to be on the ice with to observe how she plays, picking up what she's doing," added Pannek. "She seems really excited to be back, and fresh and refreshed going into the new league and a new team."
Tapani took last season off to play for Finland's national ringette team, earning MVP honors on route to World Championship gold.
"I've always done the back and forth, ringette was my first sport, but I love both sports," said Tapani. "We had ringette Worlds last year, and I just wanted to focus on one sport at a time. I felt like I needed a break because it's very hard to focus on both, but now I'm ready to play hockey again."
Tapani was originally slated to join the PHF's Metropolitan Riveters this season, determined to test herself at the professional level, and play hockey as a true professional, something that remains unattainable in Finland.
"I wanted to test professional hockey, because I couldn't do that at home," she said. "I just wanted to play hockey as a professional and I think this level is going to be very good, I wanted to test myself."
Despite suffering an injury early in the preseason camp, Tapani's first impressions were exactly as she expected.
"It's just the way I expected it to be, very professional, very good speed, especially on the smaller rink," she said.
Susanna Tapani is expected to be back for the season opening game for PWHL Minnesota on January 3 in Lowell, Massachusetts against PWHL Boston.