Unto Wiitala

Unto Wiitala
IIHF Hall of Fame , 2003
Date of birth	July 5, 1925
place of birth	Kuolemajärvi , Finland
date of death	16th January 2019
Place of death	Finland
Nickname	Unski
position	goalkeeper
Career stations
1948-1957	Karhu-Kissat Helsinki

Unto Wiitala (born July 5, 1925 in Kuolemajärvi ; † January 16, 2019 ) was a Finnish ice hockey goalkeeper and referee , who was active for Karhu-Kissat Helsinki in SM-sarja from 1948 to 1957, among others .

Career

Unto Wiitala was active for Karhu-Kissat Helsinki in SM-sarja from 1948 to 1957 . Because of his achievements, he was awarded the Lasse Oksanen trophy three times as player of the year and three times as SM sarja goalkeeper of the year.

After his active career, Wiitala worked as a referee on a national and international level, for which he received the Unto Wiitala trophy named after him as the best referee of the SM sarja four times in a row from 1972 to 1975 . Because of his services to ice hockey, Wiitala was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 1985 and finally into the IIHF Hall of Fame as a referee in 2003.

International

For Finland , Wiitala took part in the World Championships in 1949 , 1954 , 1955 and 1957 . He was also in Finland's squad at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo .

Achievements and Awards

1949 Lasse Oksanen Trophy 1950 Lynces Academici Goalie Award 1954 Lynces Academici Goalie Award 1954 Lasse Oksanen Trophy 1955 Lynces Academici Goalie Award 1956 Lasse Oksanen Trophy 1962 Lynces Academici Referee Award

1972 Unto Wiitala trophy 1972 Lynces Academici Referee Award 1973 Unto Wiitala trophy 1974 Unto-Wiitala-Trop Nahe 1974 Lynces Academici Referee Award 1975 Unto Wiitala trophy 1975 Lynces Academici Referee Award

Web links

• Unto Wiitala at eurohockey.com