Team Finland great Marjukka Virta ends playing career
Longtime Team Finland captain Marjukka Virta announced her retirement as a player after securing the Finnish Championship title with her club LL-89 Say Cheese Ringette on Easter Monday. Virta’s illustrious ringette career received a gold lining when LL-89 beat NoU Ringette in the fifth and deciding final in the Ringeten SM-sarja.
Marjukka Virta is no stranger to international duty either, representing Team Finland first as a 19-year-old in Edmonton 2002 where Finland had to settle for second place. Virta was named captain for the 2007 event. Team Finland coach Kim Forsblom attributed the Finns’ success in large part to Virta’s leadership. Longtime teammate and part of the dynamic Pohjola - Virta tandem, Finnish all-time points leader Anne Pohjola described Virta as the ‘captain of captains’:
Maiju (Marjukka) is at her best under pressure. When we needed a game tying goal in the last minute of the World Championship final, Maiju went and scored. I couldn’t have imagined anyone else in that situation. The way she led with example makes her the captain of captains.
Virta went on to don the Finland jersey for total eight World Championships of which six as Team Finland Captain and accumulating a staggering 7 world titles along the way:
2002 Edmonton - Silver
2004 Stockholm - Gold
2007 Ottawa - Gold
2010 Tampere - Gold
2013 North Bay - Gold
2016 Helsinki - Gold
2017 Mississauga - Gold
2019 Burnaby - Gold
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