Minnesota State University - Mankato Athletics

as a maverick: Last Season: Played in 28 games for the Mavericks last season...Earned career bests in goals, assists and points in a season (9-9--18)...Had four goals on the power play, which put her in a tie for second on the team...Honored as a WCHA Scholar-Athlete and named to the All-WCHA Academic Team...Represented MSU at the Four Nations Cup Nov. 4-9, playing for Team Finland...She scored the game-winning goal in the preliminary round game against rival-Team Sweden. 2007-08: Finished the season as the top freshman scorer with 5-6—11, in 28 games played…The multi-point game Feb. 9 (two assists) was the first of her collegiate career…Scored her first collegiate goal Oct. 13 at Connecticut, which started a three-game goal scoring streak…She added another three-game scoring streak Oct. 13-27…Was 10th in WCHA games in freshman scoring with 10 points…Selected to the Finnish national team that competed in the World Championship held April 4-12…The team finished with a bronze medal with a 4-1 victory against Switzerland…Tikkinen scored the third goal for Finland in the bronze medal game…She missed six games due to national competition.

THE TIKKINEN FILE: Spent three years competing with the Finnish national team and selected Rookie of the Year in 2003-04...Played in 2007 World Championships (Winnipeg, Man.) and 2006 Four Nations Tournament (Kitchener, Ont.) as a member of Finland’s National Team...Tallied three goals and four assists for seven points for the national team...Played on the club team, Karpat Oulu in 2006-07...Full name is Nina Minttu Maria Tikkinen...Daughter of Markku and Anna-Liisa Tikkinen...Intends to major in economics.