MILAN (AP) — Finland defender Jenni Hiirikoski’s fifth and potentially final Olympic Games are over due to an upper-body injury that will require surgery, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association announced on Saturday.
Finland was slotted to play Switzerland in a women’s hockey quarterfinal matchup at the Milan Cortina Games later in the day. Hiirikoski was hurt in the first period of a 5-0 preliminary round-closing loss to Canada on Thursday.
Her injury represents the latest setback for the Finns, who’s tournament start was delayed by two days due to a stomach virus depleting the team’s roster.
“It’s a shame that the games are left unfinished,” Hiirikoski said in a press release issued in Finnish and translated into English.
The 38-year-old is a three-time Olympic bronze medalist, and a member of the national team since 2004. Hiirikoski earned top Olympic defender honors in 2014 and 2018.
She's dealt with several injuries in recent years, including being hospitalized after her throat was cut by a skate blade during a Swedish Women's Hockey League game in 2023. Hiirikoski was also sidelined by an illness forcing her to miss the world championships last year.
The Finns went 1-3 in preliminary round play and were shut out three times, with their only victory coming against Switzerland.
Finland entered the tournament as a medal contender. The team won bronze at the 2022 Beijing Games and has won bronze at the past two world championships.
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Jenni Hiirikoski’s last name in the headline.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Switzerland's Kaleigh Quennec (8) skates with the puck as Finland's Jenni Hiirikoski (6) chases in the first during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
MUNICH (AP) — About 250,000 people demonstrated on Saturday against Iran's government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Germany, police said, answering a call from Iran ’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for cranked-up international pressure on Tehran.
Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munich was part of what Pahlavi described as a “global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Police said in a post on X that the number of protesters reached some 250,000, more than the organizers had expected.
“Change, change, regime change” the huge crowd chanted, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun emblems. Iran used that flag before its 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi dynasty.
At a news conference, Pahlavi warned of more deaths in Iran if “democracies stand by and watch" following Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters last month.
“We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?” he asked. He added that the survival of Iran's government “sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power.”
At the Munich rally, demonstrators sported “Make Iran Great Again" red caps, mimicking the MAGA caps worn by U.S. President Donald Trump 's supporters. Among those sporting the caps was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who gave a speech to the crowd during which he was photographed holding up the headwear.
Many at the rally waved placards showing Pahlavi, some that called him a king. The son of Iran’s deposed shah has been in exile for nearly 50 years but is trying to position himself as a player in Iran’s future.
The crowd chanted “Pahlavi for Iran,” and “democracy for Iran" as drums and cymbals sounded.
“We have huge hopes and (are) looking forward that the regime is going to change hopefully,” said Daniyal Mohtashamian, a demonstrator who traveled from Zurich, in Switzerland, to speak for protesters inside Iran who faced repression.
“There is an internet blackout, and their voices are not going outside of Iran,” he said.
About 500 protesters also rallied outside the presidential palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, with many holding up banners with slogans against Iran's government and in favor of Pahlavi.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people were killed in last month's protests, including 214 government forces. It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists inside Iran to verify deaths.
Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.
Iranian leaders are facing renewed pressure from Trump, who has threatened U.S. military action. Trump wants Iran to further scale back its nuclear program. He suggested Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen."
Iran was also the focus of protests in Munich on Friday, the opening day of an annual security conference in the city gathering European leaders and global security figures. Supporters of the Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, demonstrated.
Associated Press journalists John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Carrying a huge lion and sun flag, supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Carrying a huge lion and sun flag, supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi carry a banner presenting the people were killed in Iran during recent uprising, while attending a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi carry a banner presenting the people were killed in Iran during recent uprising, while attending a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Supporters of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
United States Senator Lindsey Graham , SC, waves to supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi at a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
United States Senator Lindsey Graham , SC, speaks to supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi at a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
United States Senator Lindsey Graham , SC, speaks to supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi at a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi stand under a huge historic Iranian flag as they attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Iranian Shah, attends a press conference at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Supporters of the Iranian opposition organisation People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, PMOI, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, MEK, show posters of people, they said was killed during the protests in Iran, at a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, takes part at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)
Supporters of the Iranian opposition organisation People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, PMOI, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, MEK, attend a protest during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
