Erkki Lehtonen

Erkki Lehtonen
Date of birth	January 9, 1957
place of birth	Tampere , Finland
size	178 cm
Weight	80 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 1976	Tappara Tampere
1976-1977	Bellingham Ice Hawks
1977-1988	Tappara Tampere
1988-1989	BSC Prussia
1989-1991	Tappara Tampere

Erkki Tapani Lehtonen (born January 9, 1957 in Tampere ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player . His brother Antero Lehtonen was also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Erkki Lehtonen began his career as a hockey player in his hometown in the youth department of Tappara Tampere , where he was active until 1976. He then spent a year with the Bellingham Ice Hawks from the Canadian Junior League , British Columbia Hockey League , before returning to Tappara for the 1977/78 season. With the professional team of Tappara Tampere from the SM-liiga he won the Finnish championship title in 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1988 . The center spent the 1988/89 season at BSC Preussen in the ice hockey Bundesliga . For Berlin he scored eight goals and 25 assists in 27 games. He then returned for two more seasons to Tappara Tampere, where he ended his career in 1991 at the age of 34. In 1997 he was honored with admission to the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame .

International

For Finland Lehtonen took part in the 1986 World Championships and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary . At the Winter Games, he and his team won the silver medal.

Achievements and Awards

1979 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1982 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1984 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1986 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1986 Raimo Kilpiö trophy

1986 SM-liiga Lynces Academici Forward Award 1987 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1988 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere 1988 SM-liiga Lynces Academici Forward Award 1997 Admission to the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame

International

• 1988 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games

SM liiga statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Main round	13	478	206	301	507	160
Playoffs	10	81	37	42	79	15th

Web links

• Erkki Lehtonen at hockeydb.com (English)
• Erkki Lehtonen at eurohockey.com
• Erkki Lehtonen at eliteprospects.com (English)