HÄMEENLINNA. – Good good, this way! Good bet, just fine! Jee, paint! How much is the game?
There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the yard of Jaarl’s kindergarten in Hämeenlinna, when more than ten children pack up on a small field to play snowball. Nanny Riikka Noronen giggles with children and also encourages girls to get involved.
Noronen, 39, continues to play in the workplace as the HPK striker’s incredible, nearly 28-year career ended this spring. HIFK sent the people of Hämeenlinna to the summer holidays with victories 3–1 in the semi-finals, and Noronen blew out for a long time.
– The season has been quite difficult mentally and physically. The places have been sore, and the feeling was relieved and relieved. There was a longing, but the biggest longing comes after spring and summer, when the others leave on the ice, and Noronen doesn’t leave herself.
Including the playoffs, Noronen played 814 matches, finishing 393 goals and giving 521 passes. He scored a total of 914 power points. Noronen won three Finnish Championship gold, five silver and six bronze medals, or 14 Finnish Championship medals.
Norone has the most seasons, matches, assists and power points. Her path in the women’s hockey league is second to none.
The fast-paced species took over
The disc jockey who grew up in Jyväskylä became enthusiastic about the sport after spinning with his big brother in the hall. When the boys ’team was no longer allowed to play and the girls didn’t have their own teams, Dad took the crying to the rehearsals of Noronen’s women’s team.
No look back, and Noronen made his debut in the main series in 1994 in JyP HT when he was only 12 years old. The first league goal was born on the 13th birthday.
Even today, exceptional individuals join the league as teenagers, Noronen is still the youngest player in the league and the youngest scorer.
– I don’t remember those times terribly, except that I was really small. I did just fine and the so-called adult women took the little girl along nicely. If you were now thinking about a 12-year-old for adult games, the pace is pretty good and physicality and athleticism have increased.
Noronen won his first championships in Jyväskylä in 1997 and 1998, but he had to wait for the next one for 13 years. In the spring of 2011, he was winning the first and so far only gold in club history for HPK.
– I was already an adult then and in a big role in those games. The championship and great people on that team have been remembered as the greatest memory. By the way, the friends that have been made all over Finland and the world have allowed the wealth to continue.
In addition to people, love and passion for the game itself have been key to a long career path. Noronen has spent a lot of his life on ice skates, but the game has taken year after year to go.
– As a kid, I also played baseball, but I liked being on the ice and playing. Hockey is a fast-paced sport, and I’ve always liked team games. It’s taken me forward, and I’ve managed to play for so long.
The national team games were short
In addition to Jyp HT, Noronen, who represented JYP, JyHC, Cats, Tappara, Ilve and HPK in his career, could be a much better-known name for Finnish sports fans if he had also been involved in national team projects. Eight matches in the Lioness from 2009-2010 and 2012-2013 have been recorded in the statistics, but she did not play any value tournaments.
Barrier to everyday realism became an obstacle, as Noronen simply said there was no time to invest.
– I thought about it while I was in the ring. I felt there wasn’t enough time when I knew how much it takes to make it at the national team level. I went to day jobs while playing, and made the decision that it’s not my own thing when I don’t have time to practice enough.
Noronen never admits to regretting his decision. He is pleased that today national team players have the opportunity to receive a € 10,000 Athlete Fellowship.
– I liked the training, but I didn’t have so much passion that I would have left my own job and just trained for the national team. It was a clear decision.
– Scholarships help, and they don’t have to do so much everyday work. I am really happy for those who have received it. When you can invest in the national team, you can get the women to move forward.
Over the past three decades, Noronen has seen an extensive development in women’s hockey. The women made it to the Olympics in Nagano in 1998, but the medals have been played by much of the same countries under Canada and the United States. Most recently, during the Beijing tournament, there was talk of women’s hockey being part of the Olympics.
Noronen says that progress has been made, but there is still room for improvement in the domestic league, for example.
– The biggest leap has taken place in sportsmanship. The sport has evolved all the time, and each club has its own physical training, for example.
Noronen never got to enjoy athlete grants, but she hasn’t had to pay for everything in her own bag either. Partners are helping to cover costs over the years.
– In the 1990s, seasonal fees had to be paid, and parents were a big support in making it possible to play. As an adult, I have acquired sponsors, and kindergarten, for example, has been nicely funding my career.
“Didn’t Raipek throw himself on the guy’s shoulder?”
Noronen is remembered as a highly intelligent center or pier that could always be in the right place in the trough at the right time. The processor shook his head at a fast pace, and the surprising feeds effectively found the pallets of the playmates.
Noronen has never wanted to make a number of herself or her career, so based on the description, it could very well be a version of women’s hockey. Raimo from Helminen or About Janne Ojas. Noronen laughs at the parable.
– I don’t know, maybe there may be something in it. Didn’t “Raipekin” throw himself on the guy’s shoulder?
– My understanding of the game has been quite good, and I have been a quarterback rather than a scorer. I’ve never considered myself a good scorer, but there have been some of them in between.
After all, there are almost 400 of them.
– Sure, they’ve been thinking about them now, and it’s great that they’ve achieved this, but they’ve come thanks to good teammates. I am grateful and I raise my hat to all my chain friends, because otherwise the points will not be achieved, Noronen praises.
In 2016, Noronen was already considering quitting, but the transfer to Ilves for the period 2017–2018 brought more desire to gamble. Together with Ilves currently coaching Linda Leppänen (born Välimäki) with Noronen formed an efficient pair of radars, and in 2018–2019, silver medals of gold exported by the Flies and Blues were hung around his neck.
Leppänen, a five-time medalist who finished his career at the age of 29, beat 702 regular season points with an average of more than two points in 17 seasons, and he is still in the HIFK. Karoliina Rantamäki44, after all-time statistics third.
– I have to say that with Linda, the game went really well and points came.
During Noronen’s second season in Tampere, he was disturbed by a bulging disc, which was the most difficult and worst injury of his career. The back injury had developed as a result of a long period of exertion, but help was found in a surprising direction when the parents of a kindergarten child working in the health care business took Noronen to take care of the matter.
In the end, no surgery was needed, and Noronen was allowed to play for HPK for three more seasons.
– I can be thankful that I have been able to play so healthy. The body is all right, of course there have been small ailments as we have come.
To fill the vacuum
With a 39-year-old man giving nearly 28 years of his life to mainstream hockey, the vacuum waiting after his career is gaping. Noronen admits to thinking about it during his career, but believes he will have time to pass. He has already been enticed from several directions to continue in the sport, and Noronen also intends to do so.
Noronen says that in addition to friends, hockey has given a lot of experiences and feelings that he has learned to deal with.
– When you have been playing since the age of six, you think about what to do when you are no longer in a hurry. What I miss the most is the gaming itself, all the friends and the locker life. It’s the salt that gets to do things together as a team.
The fact that Noronen has encountered boys in training matches that she has been caring for also tells about her long career in the trough and kindergarten. Everyday life with children and a long career with clearly younger players on the same team could provide a basis for successful junior coaching, for example.
The disc legend does not rule out the idea.
– It is often said that the mind is in your twenties, but the body is something else. When there is a small twinkle in the corner of his eye and childishness, he gets along well with the young people, Noronen laughs.