Hannu Aravirta

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FinlandFinland  Hannu Aravirta Ice hockey player
Hannu Aravirta
Date of birth March 26, 1953
place of birth Savonlinna , Finland
size 178 cm
Weight 78 kg
position striker
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1971-1973 SaPKo Savonlinna
1973-1974 TuTo hockey
1974-1975 SaPKo Savonlinna
1975-1988 Kärpät Oulu
1978-1980 Södertälje SK
1980-1981 Kiruna AIF
1981-1984 Kärpät Oulu

Hannu Aravirta (born March 26, 1953 in Savonlinna ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player and today's coach . Most recently he was the head coach of the Pelicans Lahti in the SM-liiga .

Career

Hannu Aravirta began his career as an ice hockey player in his hometown in the youth department of SaPKo Savonlinna , for whose professional team he was active in the second-class I divisoona from 1971 to 1973. The attacker then played for TuTo Hockey in SM-sarja , the top Finnish league, for a year before returning to SaPKo Savonlinna in the second division for the 1974/75 season. Within the I divisionna, the left shooter moved to Kärpät Oulu in 1975 . In the 1976/77 season he rose with his new team in the new first Finnish league, the SM-liiga . In this he spent the 1977/78 season . In the following years he played for three years in neighboring Sweden for Södertälje SK and Kiruna AIF in Division 1, which was still second at the time. Most recently, he played again in the SM-liiga for Kärpät Oulu from 1981 to 1984, before he was aged Ended his active career for 31 years.

In 1988 Aravirta began his coaching career. First he coached the SM-liiga participant JYP Jyväskylä for five years until 1993 , with whom he only failed in the playoff final at TPS Turku in the 1988/89 season . Because of this success he received the Kalevi-Numminen-Trophy as the best coach of the SM-liiga. From 1993 to 1996 he was behind the gang at the top club Jokerit Helsinki . With Jokerit he was in the seasons 1993/94 and 1995/96 each Finnish champion , while he failed with his team in the playoff final in 1995 . At European level, he also won the European Cup with Jokerit in 1994/95 and 1995/96 .

Parallel to his coaching activity at Jokerit Helsinki, Aravirta took over the post of assistant coach of the Finnish national team in 1992 . There he worked first under his compatriot Pentti Matikainen and from 1993 to 1997 under the Swede Curt Lindström . During this period he won a gold and a silver medal with Finland as an assistant coach at world championships, and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer . From 1998 to 2003, Aravirta was the successor to Lindström himself as the head coach of the national team and led them to three silver medals and one bronze medal at world championships. From 2003 to 2005 he was in charge of HIFK Helsinki in the SM-liiga, in which his team took third place in the 2003/04 season . At the same time he stood behind the gang at the Junior World Championships in 2004 and 2006 for the U20 national junior team of Finland and won the bronze medal with his team in 2004.

From 2006 to 2009 Aravirta was under contract with Pelicans Lahti in the SM-liiga. He started the 2009/10 season at his ex-club Jokerit Helsinki, but switched to MODO Hockey from the Swedish Elitserien during the season and was replaced by Hannu Jortikka at Jokerit .

From the middle of the 2010/11 season he looked after the Finnish SM-liiga participant Kärpät Oulu, where he replaced Mikko Haapakoski . After his contract expired in spring 2013, he returned to the Pelicans as head coach.

Achievements and Awards

  • 1994 European Cup win with Jokerit Helsinki
  • 1995 Finnish runner-up with Jokerit Helsinki
  • 1995 European Cup win with Jokerit Helsinki
  • 1996 Finnish champion with Jokerit Helsinki

International

SM liiga statistics

Seasons Games Gates Assists Points Penalty minutes
Regular season 4th 93 27 21st 48 46
Playoffs 1 3 1 0 1 2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Aravirta, Hannu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Savonlinna , Finland