Venla Hovi joined the Harvard women's ice hockey staff for the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach.
In her first season in Cambridge, Hovi helped guide the Crimson to five victories during the 2023-24 season. Primarily working the offense and power play units, Hovi mentored a number of players who made great strides in their careers including Gwyn Lapp, who led the team with 14 points after recording 0 in her first season with Harvard. Hovi also helped the Crimson make history at the 2024 Women's Beanpot by becoming the first college women's ice hockey team to record a win at the TD Garden after upsetting the No. 13 Boston College Eagles in the consolation round.
Before Harvard, Hovi served as the head coach of the Metropolitan Riveters in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) during the 2022-23 season. She led the team to 11 wins in her first season at the helm, the most for the group since the 2017-18 season.
A noted trailblazer in the professional hockey space, Hovi famously became the first woman to join the NHL's Winnipeg Jets in a coaching capacity after she was hired as a development coach by the organization before the 2019 season. In her first full-time coaching role, she worked with players from the youth level all the way up to the Jets and its American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, on skill development and technique.
In addition to her role with the Jets, Hovi took on an assistant coach role at the University of Manitoba in 2018-19. She helped lead the Manitoba Bisons to a third-place finish in the USports Women's Hockey Championship in 2018-19, while securing a combined 34 wins in her two seasons on staff in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Hovi's first head coaching role began in 2020, when she took over as the leader of the Okanagan Hockey Academy U17 program. She served in this role for two seasons before departing for the PHF.
One of the most decorated players in Finnish women's ice hockey history, Hovi was a three-time Olympian for Finland. Led by Hovi, Finland secured two bronze medals in the 2010 and 2018 Olympic Games in Vancouver and Pyeongchang, respectively. Hovi skated in over 200 international competitions with Finland before her retirement from the game in 2019.
Her illustrious 15-year playing career stretched from 2004-19 and featured stops with multiple Finnish professional clubs before a stint at the University of Manitoba from 2015-18. During the 2017-18 season with the Bisons, Hovi helped lead the team to the USports Championship, securing the Golden Path Trophy for the first time in program history. The forward was named the 2017-18 Bison Sports Female Athlete of the Year for her efforts in the championship run.
Her success did not stop there, as she took her talents to the Canadian professional ranks in 2018-19. In just one season with the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL, Hovi helped the group win its second Clarkson Cup in franchise history. Hovi also became the first player from Finland to with the trophy.
Hovi holds a bachelor's degree in communications and applied linguistics from the University of Vaasa and a post graduate degree in English as a second language (ESL) from the University of Manitoba.
