Sami Lipsonen

Sami Lipsonen
Date of birth	July 16, 1973
place of birth	Helsinki , Finland
size	186 cm
Weight	76 kg
position	Striker Defender
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
1990-1991	Kiekko-Espoo
1995-1996	Espoon Palloseura
1997-1998	Dordrecht Lions
1998-2000	IHC Leuven
2000-2002	Olympia Heist op den Berg
2002-2007	IHC Leuven
2007-2015	Olympia Heist op den Berg

Sami Lipsonen (born July 16, 1973 in Helsinki , Finland ) is a former Belgian - Finnish ice hockey player and coach.

Career

Sami Lipsonen, who comes from the Finnish capital Helsinki , began his career in the neighboring city of Espoo , where he played in the youth of the first division club Kiekko-Espoo . Later he was on the ice with the fourth division club Espoon Palloseura until he moved to the Dutch honor division for the Dordrecht Lions at the turn of the year 1996/97 . With the team from the province of South Holland he had to accept relegation, so that in 1997/98 he was active in the second-class Eerste divisie . He then moved to Belgium, where he played for the next 17 years in the Belgian honor division . In the seven years at IHC Leuven he was Belgian champion in 2005 and cup winner a year later . In the ten years at Olympia Heist op den Berg , there was another cup victory in 2010.

International

After his naturalization, Lipsonen played for Belgium for the first time at the 2004 World Cup in Division I. After the Belgians were unable to hold the class there, he was at the Division II World Championships in 2005 , 2006 , 2007 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010 and 2011 .

Coaching career

Already during his active career Lipsonen worked as a coach: in 2005 he was assistant coach of the Belgian U20 team in Division II. In the 2010/11 season he was player- coach of Olympia Heist op den Berg in the honor division.

Achievements and Awards

• 2005 Belgian champion with the IHC Leuven
• 2006 Belgian cup winner with the IHC Leuven
• 2010 Belgian cup winner with Olympia Heist op den Berg

statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Dutch First Division - Regular Season	1	13	10	7th	17th	26th
Dutch First Division - Playoffs	-	-	-	-	-	-
Belgian First Division - Regular Season 1	17th	177	94	158	252	106
Belgian First Division - Playoffs 1	1	2	0	2	2	0

(Status: end of the 2014/15 season)

¹ The game data are not known for all seasons of the Belgian first division, so the actual values ​​for games, goals, assists, points and penalty minutes will be higher, especially for the playoffs.

Web links

• Sami Lipsonen at eliteprospects.com (English)