| Birth Date: | 3 October 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Joensuu, Finland |
| Height M: | 1.75 |
| Weight Kg: | 68 |
| Position: | Defence |
| Shoots: | Left |
| Played For: | JoKP Joensuu Kiekko-Espoo JYP Jyväskylä KalPa Kuopio Oulun Kärpät |
| Sex: | f |
| Ntl Team: | Finland |
| Career Start: | 1992 |
| Career End: | 2002 |
Kirsi Maaria Hänninen (born 3 October 1976 in Joensuu, Finland) is a Finnish retired ice hockey defenceman and pesäpallo player. She played 116 games with the Finnish national ice hockey team and won a bronze medal with them in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Winter Olympics.[1]
Over her ten-year ice hockey career, Hänninen played with five different teams in the Naisten SM-sarja, the highest level women's hockey league in Finland. She spent four seasons, from 1996 to 2000, with JYP Jyväskylä and won the SM-sarja Championship with them in 1996 and 1997. She also played with JoKP (1992–93), Kiekko-Espoo (1993–94), KalPa (1995–96), and Oulun Kärpät (2001-02).[2]
Hänninen is well known in Finland for her career in the Superpesis, Finland's top pesäpallo league, where she competed from 1993 to 2005 and was a five-time Finnish Champion.[3]
Hänninen is a founding member of VRT Finland, an underwater structural inspection company operating in the Baltic Sea and Central Europe, and currently serves as CEO of the company.[4]
| Award | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Naisten SM-sarja Champion | 1997 (JyP HT)1998 (JYP) | |
| Most Points by a Defencemanin the Olympic Ice Hockey women's tournament | 1998 (7 points) tied with Thérèse Brisson | |
| Best Defencemanin the IIHF World Women's Championships | 1999 | |
| IIHF World Women's Championships All-Star Team | 1999 | |
| Suomen Jääkiekkoleijona Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame Finland | 2018 |
| Award | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Superpesis Best RunnerMost Runs in the Regular Season | 1995, 1996, 2000 | |
| Superpesis Champion | 1996 (Jyväskylän Kiri)1997 (Jyväskylän Kiri) 2000 (PattU) | |
| Finnish Pesäpallo Association Player of the YearSuomen Pesäpalloliitto Naispesäpalloilijaksi | 2000, 2004 | |
| Superpesis Best BatterMost Hits in the Regular Season | 2004 | |
| Superpesis Golden BatPlayer-elected Best Offensive Player | 2004 |