Noora Räty

Drafted 2017, 1 #6 by KRS Shenzhen in the CWHL Draft
Cult/Star player for HPK
Cult/Star player for Kiekko-Espoo

Biography
Noora Räty started playing hockey with EPS and moved on to play for the Espoo Blues women's team. She won the women's national title in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Räty made the jump to North America in 2009 and began playing in the NCAA, representing the University of Minnesota. She excelled with the Golden Gophers, winning the national championship twice and also earning a number of personal awards and records. She became a regular on the Finnish national team, representing Finland in five IIHF Women's World Championship tournaments and two Olympic tournaments. She has won three Women's World Championship bronze medals and one Olympic bronze medal.

After college hockey Räty found herself without a team. In 2013-14 worked as a goaltending instructor first in Minnesota and then in Finland. She played a handful of games on Ilves women's team in Finland and on SKIF Nizhny Novgorod in Russia. She also practiced with Kiekko-Vantaa while in Finland. After representing Finland in the 2014 Olympics Räty contemplated retirement. However, her career was to continue when Kiekko-Vantaa signed her to a one-year contract in early March 2014.

Having signed with Kiekko-Vantaa, Räty was slated to become the first ever Finnish woman and the second ever woman to play in any Finnish men's hockey league. Previously only Hayley Wickenheiser has played men's hockey in Finland, representing Salamat both in Suomi-sarja and Mestis in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 respectively.

Räty debuted between the pipes for Kiekko-Vantaa in the preseason. She was assigned to Bewe TuusKi early in the season. She made her Suomi-sarja debut on Bewe Tuuski goal on September 20, 2014 and became the first ever female goaltender, first ever Finnish female player and second ever female player to play in a Suomi-sarja regular season game. Her Mestis debut was on October 22, 2014, making her the first ever female goaltender not only to just play in a Mestis regular season game, but also to play for the full 60 minutes.


Trivia
- 2014-10-22 • Became the first ever female goaltender to play in a Mestis regular season game. Räty lost her first game, played a full 60 minutes, stopped 31 shots and conceded 5 goals.
- 2014-09-20 • Became the first ever female goaltender to play in a Suomi-sarja regular season game. Räty won her first game, played a full 60 minutes, stopped 30 shots and conceded 1 goal.