Marianne Ihalainen

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{short description|Finnish ice hockey player}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| image_size =

| caption =

| alt =

| name = Marianne Ihalainen

| image = Marianne Ihalainen.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|2|22}}

| birth_place = Tampere, Finland

| height_cm = 165

| weight_kg = 68

| position = Forward

| shoots = Right

| league =

| team =

| played_for = Tampereen Ilves

| sex = f

| ntl_team = FIN

| career_start = 1982

| career_end = 2001

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport|Women's ice hockey}}

{{MedalCountry|{{ihw|FIN}}}}

{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}

{{MedalBronze|1998 Nagano|Team}}

{{MedalCompetition|World Championships}}

{{MedalBronze|2000 Canada | }}

{{MedalBronze|1999 Finland | }}

{{MedalBronze|1997 Canada|}}

{{MedalBronze|1994 United States|}}

{{MedalBronze|1992 Finland|}}

{{MedalBronze|1990 Canada|}}

{{MedalCompetition|European Championship}}

{{MedalGold|1995 Latvia|}}

{{MedalGold|1993 Denmark|}}

{{MedalGold|1991 Czechoslovakia|}}

{{MedalGold|1989 West Germany|}}

{{MedalBronze|1996 Russia|}}

}}

Marianne Ihalainen (born 22 February 1967) is a retired Finnish ice hockey forward.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ih/marianne-ihalainen-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417181001/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ih/marianne-ihalainen-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Marianne Ihalainen}} She won a bronze medal as captain of the Finnish national team at the 1998 Winter Olympics{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/FIN/winter/1998/ICH/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417053926/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/FIN/winter/1998/ICH/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Finland Ice Hockey at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games |accessdate=2010-04-13}} and also won six IIHF World Women's Championship bronze medals, four IIHF European Women Championships gold medals and one bronze while representing Finland and was eight time SM-sarja Finnish Champion with Ilves. Ihalainen is regarded as one of the pioneers of women’s ice hockey in Finland and she was one of the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Finland, alongside fellow trailblazer Riikka Sallinen.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jaakiekkomuseo.fi/jaakiekkoleijonat/|title=Jääkiekkoleijonat|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame Finland|language=fi|access-date=2020-02-26}}

After her retirement from playing in 2001, Ihalainen coached the Ilves women’s team during 2002–2006 and led the team to victory in the 2006 SM-sarja Finnish Championship.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ilveshistoria.com/ilves-hockey-legends/|title=Ilves Hockey Legends|last=|first=|date=|website=ilveshistoria.com|publisher=Ilves-Hockey Oy|language=fi|access-date=2020-02-26}} In 2006, she became the head coach and team manager of the Finnish national team. Under Ihalainen coaching, the Finnish national team won bronze medals at the 2008 and 2009 IIHF Women's World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

At a ceremony held during the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship in Espoo, she became the first woman to have her career formally honoured by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association.