Anna Kilponen

Anna Kilponen (born 16 May 1995) is a Finnish ice hockey defenceman currently serving as captain of Tampereen Ilves Naiset of the Naisten Liiga (NSML). She has previously competed internationally with the Finnish national team and won bronze medals at the 2015 and 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship and played in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Playing career
Kilponen began her career in 2009 with Ilves in the Naisten SM-sarja, the highest level women’s hockey league in Finland. She was named an Ilves alternate captain in the 2010–11 season when she was 15 years old. Kilponen also played with Team Oriflame in the Naisten SM-sarja from the 2011–12 to 2013–14 season and served as team captain for the 2012–13 season. In the 2014–15 season she returned to Ilves and served as captain.

Leading up to the 2015–16 season, Kilponen moved to the United States to attend the University of North Dakota and play NCAA hockey with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. She played with the Fighting Hawks for two seasons, serving as an alternate captain in 2016–17, until the women’s ice hockey program was cut by the university in March 2017. Kilponen then transferred to Quinnipiac University and played for the Quinnipiac Bobcats until graduating in 2019.

Kilponen is signed with Linköping HC Dam in the SDHL and will make her debut with the team in the 2019–20 season.

International career
Kilponen was selected for the Finland women's national ice hockey team in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She played in all six games, recording two assists.

As of 2014, Kilponen has also appeared for Finland at two IIHF Women's World Championships. Her first appearance came in 2012.

Kilponen made three appearances for the Finland women's national under-18 ice hockey team, at the IIHF World Women's U18 Championships, with the first in 2011, when she won a bronze medal as part of the team in 2011.

International career
Through 2013–14 season