Riikka Noronen


Riikka Noronen is a Finnish ice hockey forward and captain of HPK Kiekkonaiset of the Naisten Liiga. She is the all-time leading point scorer in the Naisten Liiga.

Career

Noronen began playing in the Naisten SM-sarja with JyP HT when she was 12 years old.
As of the conclusion of the 2019–20 season, Noronen has scored 730 points in 596 Naisten Liiga regular season games and her career has spanned 25 seasons. She has played with four clubs: JYP Jyväskylä during 1995–2001 and 2004–2009; Tampereen Ilves Naiset during 2000–01, 2002–2004, and 2017–2019; Tappara during 2001–02; and HPK Kiekkonaiset during 2008–2017 and from 2019 to the present. She has won the the Finnish Championship three times: in 1997 with JyP HT, in 1998 with JYP, and in 2011 with HPK. As the 2011 Finnish Champions, HPK was the first team to be awarded the Aurora Borealis Cup. Noronen served as HPK captain between 2013 and 2017, until her return to Ilves. Upon her return to HPK, in 2019, she resumed the captaincy.
Noronen tied the league points record of 702 points, set by Linda Leppänen, on 19 October 2019 in an HPK match against Kiekko-Espoo. The following day, she broke the record, scoring a goal and tallying two assists in a match against Vaasan Sport Naiset, and claimed sole possession of the Naisten Liiga scoring title.

International

Noronen was on the roster of the Finnish national under-22 team during 2001 to 2003. She played international matches with the Finnish national team in 2010 and 2013.