The loan transfer to Luleå surprised
Jenna Pirttijärvi from Ranua took another big leap in her career as an ice hockey player, when the forward, who had convinced her in the Finnish League, moved to Sweden with a loan agreement. Pirttijärvi’s new club Luleå Hockey is one of the best clubs in Europe at the moment.
– The first reaction was a shock. However, this is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. When a team of this level wants you to play, we have to seize the opportunity, Pirttijärvi said in an interview conducted by the municipality of Ranua.
Pirttijärvi will move to Sweden from Rovaniemi Kiekko (RoKi) to Sweden with a one-month loan agreement. The transfer was announced on Tuesday and the first to report on the topic were e.g. Lapin kansa and Jatkoaika. In addition to Pirttijärvi, teammate Aino Karppinen will also move to Luleå, who will also become Pirttijärvi’s roommate.
– We will be roommates with Aino Karppinen. We have been promised a furnished apartment right in the center of the city.
The Luleå team already has five other Finnish women’s hockey players, all of whom also belong to the women’s national team. Previous Finns in the company are Jenni Hiirikoski, Ronja Savolainen, Petra Nieminen, Noora Tulus and Viivi Vainikka.
Work with young people in addition to ice hockey career
In addition to ice hockey, 27-year-old Jenna Pirttijärvi works for the municipality of Ranua as an individual coach in a youth workshop. She currently works an 80 percent work week, as goal-oriented sports require its own share of the time. Pirttijärvi lives in Ranua, but spends part of the week in Rovaniemi, where RoKi’s women’s league team trains and plays.
Pirttijärvi’s training amounts are very audible to the average person.
– Wednesday is free from work. Then there is first the morning ice, then the physics training, ie strength training, in the evening first another physics training and on top of the evening ice. There are about 5.5 hours of training on that day.
Aiming for the Beijing Olympics
Pirttijärvi, like many other ice hockey players from Lapland, got her firsts touches to the sport in outdoor ice rinks. Namely, she started playing hockey as a child in the village of Impiö. The outdoor rinks of Ranua also receive a lot of praise from the quickly rising hockey player.
– Ranua has well-maintained outdoor ice in the side villages, and the indoor ice hockey rink in the center of our village certainly has some of the cheapest ice shifts for locals in Finland.
She also praises his employer for his flexible attitude.
– Without such a flexible employer, hockey could not have been played at this level. Thanks also to the local sponsors for making it possible to play.
It is worth noting Jenna Pirttijärvi’s story so far how fast the Ranua-based forward has been able to rise to the top of domestic hockey. Until a few years ago, Pirttijärvi played in hobby series before the sport also became a more goal-oriented thing for her.
Pirttijärvi followed the life of Oona Parviainen, who ended her career at RoKi last spring, on social media and wished her luck on the match ahead. Parviainen responded to Pirttijärvi’s message by inviting her to the trainings of Rovaniemi Kiekko, which was playing in Mestis (the second tier in Finland) at the time.
The rest could be considered history and the next big goal in Pirttijärvi’s career can already be found on the side of the Beijing Olympics.
– Next, my intention is to be chosen to the women’s ice hockey national team and represent Finland in the Beijing Olympics. It is not yet known when the team will be announced.
Pirttijärvi played in her first full League season with an average of more than points per game, and the same trend has continued since the beginning of 2021, as she has been able to score one goal and assist three in her first three games of the season.
Main image of the article: © Riku Laukkanen | Leijonat.fi
