Jari Kaarela

Jari Kaarela
Date of birth	August 8, 1958
place of birth	Tampere , Finland
size	178 cm
Weight	75 kg
position	goalkeeper
Catch hand	Left
Career stations
until 1978	Ilves Tampere
1978-1980	SaPKo Savonlinna
1980-1981	Fort Worth Texans
1981-1982	Muskegon Mohawks
1982-1983	Kiekko-Reipas
1983-1984	Kärpät Oulu
1984-1986	HIFK Helsinki

Jari Pekka Kaarela (born August 8, 1958 in Tampere ) is a former Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper and coach who played for the Colorado Rockies in the National Hockey League from 1978 to 1986 . Since 2010 he has been the goalkeeping coach at HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Continental Hockey League .

Career

Jari Kaarela began his career as a hockey player in his hometown in the youth department of Ilves Tampere , with whose A-Juniors he was champions of the corresponding age group in 1977 and 1978. From 1978 to 1980 he played for the professional team of SaPKo Savonlinna in the second Finnish division, the I divisioona. In the summer of 1980, the goalkeeper went to North America, where he first played in the 1980/81 season for the Indianapolis Checkers and Fort Worth Texans in the Central Hockey League . On February 9, 1981 he received a contract as a free agent with the Colorado Rockies , for which he stood between the posts in five games in the National Hockey League by the end of the season. In the following season he ran in 49 games for the Muskegon Mohawks in the International Hockey League . He also appeared in two more games for Fort Worth in the CHL. In the summer of 1982 Kaarela returned to Finland, where he then played for one year each for the SM-liiga participants Kiekko-Reipas and Kärpät Oulu . He ended his career at the age of 28 with the capital club HIFK Helsinki, for which he was active from 1984 to 1986.

Following his playing career, Kaarela worked from 1994 to 2002 as an assistant coach for his former club HIFK Helsinki. The team became Finnish champions in the 1997/98 season . From 1998 to 2003 he was also a goalkeeping coach for the Finnish national team. From 2002 to 2010 he was goalkeeping coach at the SM liiga participant HPK Hämeenlinna . The Finn started the 2010/11 season as a goalkeeping coach at Lokomotive Yaroslavl in the Continental Hockey League . The rest of the season he spent with his league rivals HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk .

Achievements and Awards

• 1977 Finnish A-Junior Champion with Ilves Tampere
• 1978 Finnish A-Junior Champion with Ilves Tampere
• 1998 Finnish champion with HIFK Helsinki (as assistant coach)
• 1999 silver medal at the world championship (as assistant coach)

Web links

• Jari Kaarela at hockeydb.com (English)
• Jari Kaarela at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Jari Kaarela at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Jari Kaarela at hockeygoalies.org