Sanni Rantala (born 8 July 2002) is a Finnish ice hockey player for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) and a member of the Finnish national team.
Rantala won bronze medals in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship in Utica, New York.
Rantala made her senior club debut with Team Kuortane in the 2017âÂÂ18 season of the Finnish Naisten Liiga (NSML). Her rookie season was capped by Team Kuortane winning Finnish Championship (SM) bronze in the 2018 playoffs, the first SM medal in team history.
After four seasons with Team Kuortane, she joined Kiekko-Espoo for the 2021âÂÂ22 season and won the Aurora Borealis Cup in that season's playoffs. The 2021âÂÂ22 season marked the first instance of her career in which she averaged more than a point per game (25 points/21 games=1.19) across the regular season and was highlighted by her selection to the Naisten Liiga All-Star First Team.
Ahead of the 2022âÂÂ23 season, Rantala left Kiekko-Espoo to sign with KalPa. She led all Naisten Liiga defensemen in assists during the 2022âÂÂ23 regular season, with 32, and was KalPa's top point-scoring defender, notching 39 points in 30 games. In eight games of the 2023 Aurora Borealis Cup playoffs, she contributed two goals and eight assists to KalPaâÂÂs SM bronze medal-winning effort. Her play earned a second selection to the All-Star First Team.
Rantala was the league's top scoring defenseman in the 2023âÂÂ24 season, tallying 34 points (13+21) in 30 games, and was selected to the Naisten Liiga All-Star First Team for the third consecutive time.
In early April 2024, Frölunda HC announced the signings of Rantala and KalPa teammate Elisa Holopainen for the 2024âÂÂ25 SDHL season.
Rantala was officially named to the Finnish roster for the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship on 4 March 2020, before the tournament was cancelled on 7 March 2020 due to public health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. She appeared on the national team roster for all four of the tournaments of the 2019âÂÂ20 Euro Hockey Tour.
After a knee injury sustained in a preseason game kept her in rehabilitation and off the ice for the entire 2020âÂÂ21 season, the 2022 Winter Olympics served as Rantala's senior-level IIHF debut. She played in all seven games and scored two points in the tournament, a goal and an assist, both tallied against the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) during the group stage. Her eight penalty minutes led all Finnish players in the tournament.
On 2 January 2026, she was named to Finland's roster to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics.