Petra Nieminen suspended for one game for checking from behind

Finnish forward Petra Nieminen has been suspended for one game for checking Canada’s Kristin O’Neill from behind at the Women’s World Championship.

Disciplinary Notice: @leijonat's Petra Nieminen will miss tomorrow's game against @usahockey

More: https://t.co/xZ2ekLkyEH pic.twitter.com/vBNdK26WrA

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 26, 2022

The incident occurred during a preliminary round game between Finland and Canada on Thursday. 4:30 into the first period, O’Neill was skating into the corner to retrieve the puck when Nieminen came up from behind and bodychecked her into the boards. Along with the one game suspension, she received a 5-minute major and a game misconduct during the game, and Canada would go on to win the game 4-1.

Finalnd's Petra Nieminen received a 5-minute major and game misconduct for this hit. #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/1WbU0GwvaF

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 25, 2022

With this game being Finland’s first of the tournament, Nieminen has gone scoreless in this tournament since she left the game against Canada just 4:30 into it. She’s had an excellent year in everything she’s participated in, including 26 goals, 29 assists, and 55 points in 34 games in the SDHL for Lulea HF; three goals, five assists, and eight points in seven games at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing; and four goals, six assists, and 10 points in 12 games across all international play. She’s been important to Finland in previous World Championships, with 12 goals in 27 games across five tournaments.

It’s a huge blow for the Finns at this point of the tournament, losing one of their top scorers. Not only did they miss her offense against Canada with her kicked out of the game, they’ll also be missing it against the United States in Saturday’s game. It puts them behind the eight ball against the two toughest opponents of the tournament, and it will be tough to recover from.

They’ll likely look to Susanna Tapani to carry the torch for the team through this stretch. She got the primary assist on Finland’s lone goal against Canada, and had six goals, two assists, and eight points in seven games at the 2022 Olympics, as well as 13 goals, 15 assists, and 28 points in 45 games across eight World Championship tournaments.