Vesa Viitakoski

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FinlandFinland  Vesa Viitakoski Ice hockey player
Vesa Viitakoski
Date of birth February 13, 1971
place of birth Lappeenranta , Finland
size 189 cm
Weight 96 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1990 , 2nd lap, 32nd position
Calgary Flames
Career stations
1988-1990 SaiPa Lappeenranta
1990-1993 Tappara Tampere
1993-1996 Calgary Flames
1996-1997 HV 71 Jönköping
1997-2004 Ilves Tampere
2004-2006 Brynäs IF
2006-2008 Ilves Tampere
2008-2010 Kärpät Oulu

Vesa Viitakoski (born February 13, 1971 in Lappeenranta ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player and current coach .

Career

Vesa Viitakoski began his career as a hockey player at SaiPa Lappeenranta , for which he was active in the SM-liiga from 1988 to 1990 . He was then selected in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft in the second round as the 32nd player of the Calgary Flames . Initially, however, the attacker played three more years in Finland at Tappara Tampere . During his time in the National Hockey League , in which he played for Calgary from 1993 to 1996, Viitakoski could not prevail, so that he only completed 23 NHL games, in which he scored six scorer points, including two goals. For the 1996/97 season the Finn returned to Europe, where he signed a contract with HV71 Jönköping from the Swedish Elitserien .

After one season the striker left HV71 again and received a contract in his Finnish homeland with Ilves Tampere , for which he was active until 2004, before he went back to Sweden, where he played for Brynäs IF for two seasons . then he returned to Ilves. Viitakoski has been under contract with Kärpät Oulu since summer 2008 . For the Finns he was on the ice in all four group games of the Champions Hockey League and Viitakoski was runner-up with his team at the end of the season. Following the 2009/10 season , he ended his career at Kärpät.

In the 2011/12 season he worked as assistant coach of the A-Juniors of his former club Ilves Tampere, before he worked in the same position on the professional team the following season. Between 2013 and January 2016 he was an assistant trainer at the HPK . He has been an assistant trainer at EHC Visp since 2017 .

International

For Finland Viitakoski took part in the Junior World Championships in 1990 and 1991 , as well as the A-World Championships in 1992 , 1993 and 2002 , where he was runner-up in 1992 with his team.

Achievements and Awards

International

Web links