Riku-Petteri Lehtonen

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Riku-Petteri Lehtonen (born January 19, 1971 in Turku ) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional player who acted as a defender. He has been the head coach of the Rødovre Mighty Bulls in the Metal Ligaen since 2019 .

Player career

Lehtonen comes from the youth department of the club TPS , for whose men's team he completed first appearances in the first Finnish league in the 1995/96 season and was runner-up. In the following season he became a regular player and won the European Hockey League with TPS and was second again in the domestic league. In the season 97/98 he contributed to victory in the European Supercup and after the season moved to another Liiga representative, Espoo Blues , where he spent two years.

In 2000 he accepted an offer from Moskitos Essen and switched to the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). For Essen he completed a total of 83 DEL games before he moved back to Finland: During the 2001/02 season he signed with HIFK . In 2003 he moved on to SaiPa and later made a short detour to Sweden to Leksands IF .

In 2004 Lehtonen signed with HC Milano Vipers and was to spend three years full of titles there. With the Milan team he won the “double” from the Italian championship and cup win in the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons, and in his third and final season in Milan (2006/07) he won the Italian Supercup with the Vipers. He then ended his playing career.

Coaching career

FinlandFinland  Riku-Petteri Lehtonen
Coaching stations
2007-2009 TPS Turku U20 (Ass.)
2008-2010 TPS Turku (Ass.)
2010-2011 TPS Turku
2011-2013 Pelicans (Ass.)
2013-2015 TPS Turku (Ass.)
2015-2019 Ritten sport
since 2019 Rødovre Mighty Bulls

Lehtonen joined the coaching staff of his home club TPS in 2007 and initially worked in the youth department before he was appointed assistant coach of TPS 'professional team in the Finnish first division in the 2008/09 season. In the 2010/11 season he temporarily took over the post of head coach after the club separated from Heikki Leime .

From May 2011 to March 2013 he worked as an assistant coach at Pelicans Lahti and then returned to TPS, where he held the same position until November 2014.

In June 2015 he was hired by the South Tyrolean club Ritten Sport from Serie A as head coach. There he worked with sports director Adolf Insam , under whom he had played during his time in Milan. In his tenure in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, Lehtonen led Buam to win the Italian championship, 2017, 2018 and 2019 to win the Italian Supercup and in 2017 to win the international AHL championship . In April 2019 he was introduced as the new head coach of the Danish team Rødovre Mighty Bulls .

Achievements and Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ DEL - DEL.org. In: www.del.org. Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ New trainer: A Finn will be in charge of the Renon. In: www.sportnews.bz. Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Alps Hockey League: RITTNER BUAM. In: alps.hockey. Retrieved March 2, 2020 .
  4. ↑ OFFICIELT: Finn bliver ny cheftræner i Rødovre. In: hockeytinget.dk. Retrieved March 2, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Lehtonen, Riku-Petteri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH 19th January 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Turku