Leave Oksanen

Leave Oksanen
IIHF Hall of Fame , 1999
Date of birth	December 7, 1942
place of birth	Tampere , Finland
position	Right wing
number	# 14
Shot hand	right
Career stations
1960-1975	Ilves Tampere
1975-1977	HC Gherdëina
1977-1979	Ilves Tampere
1979-1980	Asiago Hockey
1980-1982	Ilves Tampere
1982-1983	Koo-Vee

Lasse Oksanen (born December 7, 1942 in Tampere ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player and coach , who played during his active career mainly for Ilves Tampere and won the Finnish championship three times . He was also a long-time member of the Finnish national team .

Career

Lasse Oksanen played from 1960 to 1975, 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1982 for his home club Ilves Tampere . During the 1960/61 season, the Finn made his debut for Ilves in the Finnish top division, the SM-sarja . In the following two seasons he also went on the ice for Ilves' junior team, with which Oksanen took part in the Finnish championship. In 1962 Oksanen won the Finnish championship with Ilves for the first time in his career. In the 1963/64 season he made his breakthrough in the first team when the right winger scored 23 points in 17 league games. Only his strike partner Jorma Peltonen , also an Ilves legend, was more successful. His good performance at Ilves earned him a permanent nomination for the Finnish national team , which Oksanen first represented at the 1964 Winter Olympics . In total, he took part in eleven world championships and three Olympic tournaments for Finland from 1964 to 1977 and made 282 international games for his home country. At Ilves he held the office of team captain for several years .

Let Oksanen throw in the puck before the game between Ilves Tampere and Lukko Rauma

In addition to two other championship titles with Ilves, which Oksanen won in 1966 and 1972, numerous individual successes and honors were inevitable. He was also runner-up four times with Ilves and third place five times. After the 1964/65 season he was elected to the SM sarja All-Star Team for the first time . He did the same eight more times, eight times in a row by 1972. In 1966 he was named Finnish Player of the Year. At the European Ice Hockey Cup 1966/67 Oksanen reached the finals with Ilves, where he scored two hits against the Czechoslovakian champions TJ ZKL Brno in the final series that was ultimately lost. In 1968 the Finn won the Raimo Kilpiö trophy as the fairest actor of the year. In the 1969/70 season he achieved seven hat tricks in the Finnish championship. Oksanen achieved this in just 22 games. Although significantly more games are played nowadays, this record has remained untouched so far. In 1975 he left his home club for the first time and decided to join the Italian club HC Gherdëina . In his debut season, Oksanen won the Italian championship with Val Gardena and Oksanen was involved in winning the title with 27 goals. In the 1976/77 season he was active as a player-coach for the Val Gardena.

In 1977 he returned to Ilves, for whom he ran for two more years. In 1979 he moved again to Italy and this time to Asiago Hockey in Veneto . After one season he went back to Ilves to stay there for two more seasons and after an engagement at Koo-Vee to end his playing career in 1983. In the top Finnish league, the striker made a total of 477 appearances and 498 points (268 goals and 230 assists) over the course of his career. His jersey number 14 was banned by Ilves and no longer given to any player. During the 1994/95 season he worked as an assistant coach at his long-standing club, Ilves.

In 1987 Oksanen was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame . In 1999 he was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame . The Lasse-Oksanen-Trophy , which is awarded annually by the SM-liiga to the best player of the main season, was named after him in 1994.

Web links

• Lasse Oksanen at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Leave Oksanen in the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame