FEL Finnish rosters for 2011-2012

[Vasara]

Unfortunately Jokerit has released Czech forward Petr Kalus from his tryout. There's no official reason for the release, but the rumours are saying it has nothing to do with his playing on ice. It's a shame that Kalus is no longer part of the team as there's not too many tough players around FEL.

TPS also released a player from tryout as defender Mikko Viitanen was let go today.

[Vasara]

Mestis team KooKoo signed power forward Patrik Forsbacka to a 1 year deal after a succesful tryout period.

As rumoured all summer defender Jere Karalahti leaves Blues despite having a contract with them for the 2011-2012 season. Karalahti's new address is Dinamo Minsk in KHL. Blues also released goalie Mika Norja after unsuccesful tryout period.

SaiPa has loaned defender Riku Dufva to Mestis team Jukurit for the season 2011-2012. The son of JYP's anti-fighting coach Risto Dufva has already had 1 one this preseason.

Retired power forward Erkki Rajamäki is training with some unemployed players. There's been rumours that he's making a comeback after one year of absence.

Big (193cm/100kg) American forward Cody Dion is on tryout with Suomi-sarja team S-Kiekko. He played last season University of Alabama-Huntsville in NCAA collecting 3 points (2g+1a) and 6 PIM in 29 games. Before that he played two season in AJHL with 92 points (39g+53a) and 177 PIM in 106 games. He also had atleast 10 fights in AJHL.

[Vasara]

Blues has replaced Jere Karalahti by signing Ari Vallin to a 1 year contract. Vallin played last season with HIFK in FEL (48gp 1g+14a=15pts 46PIM) and with K-Vantaa in Mestis (1gp 0pts 0PIM). He has 526 games in FEL with 156 points (43g+113a) and 382 PIM. Vallin has also played in AHL (24gp 0g+7a=7pts 20PIM), SEL (110gp 7g+27a=34pts 94PIM) and RSL (53gp 3g+8a=11pts 68PIM)

Goalie Mika Norja, who had an usuccesful tryout with Blues, is now on tryout with HIFK

Big and tough defender Simo "Sixpack" Pulkki (196cm/103kg) plays this season for Nikkarit in 2-divisioona. Pulkki has played 112 FEL games with 9 points (3g+6a) and 207 PIM. He has also played in Mestis (47gp 4g+8a=12pts 176PIM), France (23gp 0g+2a=2pts 47PIM), EPIHL (28gp 9g+16a=25pts 83PIM), UHL (66gp 3g+10a=13pts 69PIM) and CHL (60gp 2g+10a=12pts 102PIM). He has fought guys like Kurt Irvine, Nathan Gillies, Doug Christiansen, Darrel Stoddard, Sheldon Wenzel, Jonne Virtanen and Pasi Nielikäinen

vs Pasi Nielikäinen, Pulkki in yellow

Pasi Nielikainen vs Simo Pulkki Nov 22, 2008

vs Niko Palonen, Pulkki in yellow

Simo Pulkki vs. Niko Palonen

Another interesting player to play in 2-divisioona is Miikka Jouhkimainen who suits up for Bewe Hockey. He's a fast skating gritty forward who has played in FEL (146gp 19g+10a=29pts 99PIM), Mestis (24gp 0g+6a=6pts 66PIM) and NAHL (45gp 4g+8a=12pts 32PIM). He has fought guys like Colin Trulock and Anssi Rantanen.

vs Matti Kuusisto, Jouhkimainen in yellow

Ässät - SaiPa, 10.2.09 : Kuusisto vs. Jouhkimainen

Gritty forward Ari Katavisto (185cm/98kg) has been playing for 3-divisioona team GrIFK this season. He is one of the best players at this level. He has played in FEL (18gp 0pts 14PIM), Mestis (201gp 32g+57a=89pts 233PIM, Suomi-sarja 90gp 47g+63a=110pts 126PIM), 2-divisioona (35gp 30g+34a=64pts 22PIM), Netherlands (37gp 22g+23a=45pts 14PIM) and OHL (41gp 2g+2a=4pts 20PIM). He has caused few brawls in Mestis and fought guys like Matt Price, Joe DiBiase and Teemu Laine. He'll defintely be a force in 3-divisioona if he plays on that level during the regular season.

[Vasara]

TPS has signed two forwards. Mika Viinanen is signed to a 1-year contract and Toni Mäkiaho is signed to a 1 month tryout. Viinanen is a two way center who split last season with Timrå IK in SEL (35gp 7g+7a=14pts 22PIM) and with Traktor Chelyabinsk in KHL (16gp 2g+3a=5pts 10PIM). He has 492 games in FEL with 194 points (89g+105a) and 583 PIM. He has also played in Mestis (43gp 16g+16a=32pts 91PIM). Mäkiaho is a legend in Finnish hockey fighting. He is one of the most penalized players in FEL history. He has nearly 30 fights in FEL. He has fought guys like Tomek Valtonen, Kari Haakana, Jarkko Ruutu, Charlie Cook and Craig Rivet. He has played in FEL (616gp 146g+159a=305pts 1336PIM), Mestis (35gp 17g+22a=39pts 104PIM), SEL (18gp 3g+3a=6pts 31PIM), Allsvenskan (18gp 4g+3a=7pts 37PIM), NLA (25gp 7g+13a=20pts 40PIM), RSL (9gp 1g+1a=2pts 6PIM) and Austrian Nationalliga (6gp 3g+4a=7pts 12PIM)

Couple of fights by Mäkiaho:

vs Jarkko Ruutu, Mäkiaho in white

Hockey fight - Jarkko Ruutu vs. Toni Mäkiaho

vs Peter Ahola, Mäkiaho in red

Toni Mäkiaho vs. Peter Ahola

vs Tomek Valtonen, Mäkiaho in dark

Toni Mäkiaho HPK - Jokerit Tomek Valtonen

vs Kari Haakana, Mäkiaho in red

4.1.2001 Toni Mäkiaho vs. Kari Haakana

vs Marc Busenburg, Mäkiaho in white

Mäkiaho vs Busenburg

Originally Posted by Vasara

Goalie Mika Norja, who had an usuccesful tryout with Blues, is now on tryout with HIFK

Correction to this. Norja is signed to a 1-year contract

[Vasara]

Jokerit announced today that they've signed forward Jarkko Ruutu to a 3-year contract. Ruutu's career should be familiar to everyone here so I'm not gonna write about it. But I have to say that this is a great signing for FEL. Not expecting him to fight much but he'll definitely spice things up real good in here. Welcome back Jarkko!

[Vasara]

Lots of FEL players loaned out to Mestis. Here's a few of the most interesting ones:

Aki Kangasmäki, a young power forward capable of fighting from Lukko to Sport
Tuomas Vänttinen, an experienced defensive forward with nearly 400 FEL games from Tappara to LeKi
Tommi Kivistö, young defender contracted with Carolina Hurricanes from Jokerit to K-Vantaa
Jonne Virtanen, maybe the toughest Finnish player at the moment from JYP to JYP-Akatemia
Riku Helenius, former Tampa Bay Lightning 1st round choice goalie with NHL experience from JYP to JYP-Akatemia
Yohann Auvitu, French winger/defender with experience from the World Championships from JYP to JYP-Akatemia
Zoltan Hetenyi, Hungarian goalie from Jokerit to K-Vantaa

[Vasara]

Power forward Erkki Rajamäki has made a comeback after one season of abscence as HIFK announced today they've signed him to a contract for the remainder of the season. Rajamäki has 405 regular season games in FEL with 120 points (73g+47a) and 879 PIM. In playoffs he has 14 points (7g+7a) and 106PIM in 79 games. He has also played in AHL (61gp 5g+4a=9pts 67PIM), ECHL (5gp 1g+1a=2pts 2PIM), NCAA (31gp 1g+6a=7pts 20PIM), BISL (11gp 1g+0a=1pt 0PIM) and Mestis (4gp 1g+3a=4pts 0PIM). He is Tampa Bay Lightning 8th round choice (216th overall) in 1999 NHL entry draft. Rajamäki has fought guys like Semir Ben-Amor, Roman Vopat, Bert Robertsson, David Liffiton and Brent Thompson.

vs Semir Ben-Amor, Rajamäki in white

Ben-Amor vs. Rajamäki. Lukko - Blues 27.12.2007

Originally Posted by Vasara

Gritty forward Ari Katavisto (185cm/98kg) has been playing for 3-divisioona team GrIFK this season. He is one of the best players at this level. He has played in FEL (18gp 0pts 14PIM), Mestis (201gp 32g+57a=89pts 233PIM, Suomi-sarja 90gp 47g+63a=110pts 126PIM), 2-divisioona (35gp 30g+34a=64pts 22PIM), Netherlands (37gp 22g+23a=45pts 14PIM) and OHL (41gp 2g+2a=4pts 20PIM). He has caused few brawls in Mestis and fought guys like Matt Price, Joe DiBiase and Teemu Laine. He'll defintely be a force in 3-divisioona if he plays on that level during the regular season.

As the regular season started Katavisto has played with HCK Salamat, also in 3-divisioona. And as I said, he is a force in that level. He collected 8 points (1g+7a) against my team last Saturday.

Originally Posted by Vasara

KeKi
KeKi (Kemijärven Kiekko) has signed huge (201cm/102kg) American defender Todd Orlando. Orlando played for North American 37 Hockey this preseason. 37 Hockey is a team whose player were showing their skills to Finnish lower league teams. With 37 Hockey, Orlando had a fight with Kenneth Kavanne of Suomi-sarja team HCK. In 2010-2011 preseason he played with Augusta Riverhawks of SPHL and had a fight with Brett Needham of Fayetteville FireAntz. He also played his first pro hockey game with Cincinnati Cyclones in ECHL.

After 1 game for KeKi in 2-divisioona, Orlando had a tryout with Suomi-sarja teamHermes along with his country man forward Dane Ludolph and Japanese forward Akira Tagawa

[Vasara]

HIFK has signed world champion forward Janne Pesonen to a contract for the remainder of the season after he had an unsuccesful try out with Winnipeg Jets. He is Anaheim Ducks 9th round choice (269th overall) in 2004 NHL entry draft and has played 7 games for Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-2009. Last season Pesonen spent with Ak Bars Kazan in KHL (46gp 14g+13a=27pts 28PIM).
Career stats:
NHL 7. 0+0=0 0
AHL 70. 32+50=82 33 (5. 1+5=6 0)
SM-liiga 285. 94+122=216 200 (62. 18+13=31 32)
Mestis 40. 14+21=35 62 (3. 2+0=2 4)
2-divisioona 2. 0+0=0 0
KHL 88. 28+24=52 40 (16. 4+1=5 8)

Tappara has signed forward Jarkko Pyymäki to a contract for the remainder of the season. He started this season in Mestis (8gp 1g 2PIM) and also spent last season there playing for LeKi (42gp 4g+19a=23pts 20PIM). He has 351 regular season games in SM-liiga with 37 points (16g+21a) 151PIM. He is a defensive specialist playing mostly in the 4th line. Tappara also assigned forwards Joni Karjalainen and Jouni Virpiö to Mestis for the remainder of the season. Both went pointless in SM-liiga, Karjalainen played 1 game and Virpiö 3 games.

TPS has released American defender Garrett Raboin after 7 pointless games.

[Vasara]

JYP has signed big (191cm/105kg) Czech defender Pavel Skrbek to a contract. He joins the team later this month. He started this season with Rytiri Kladno in Czech Extraliga. He has also played in NHL, AHL, IHL and SEL.
Career stats:
NHL 12. 0+0=0 8
AHL 115. 13+32=45 88
IHL 60. 2+22=24 55
CzEL 132. 8+23=31 202
SEL 397. 31+89=120 539 (39. 1+6=7 47)
Skrbek has also few fights. He has fought guys like Dody Wood, Denis Hamel and Ian MacNeil.

Blues has signed Swedish center Joakim Eriksson to contract for the remainder of the season. Eriksson joins the team October 22nd. Before that he plays with Linköping in SEL. Eriksson played for Blues also in 2005-2006.
Career stats:
FEL 56. 16+33=49 34 (9. 1+3=4 27)
SEL (before this season) 664. 106+240=346 376
Swedish 1.division 84. 36+40=76 48

[Vasara]

Lots of roster moves in Finland today:

Blues has loaned center Juuso Rajala from Mestis team Jokipojat. This season Rajala has 10 points (3+7) and 6 PIM in 9 games. He has played 50 games in FEL for Lukko and TPS with 10 points (3+7) and 8 PIM. The loan spell is for one week. Blues sends forwards Miro Aaltonen and Roope Ranta to opposite direction.

Lukko has recalled power forward Aki Kangasmäki from Mestis team Sport. With Sport Kangasmäki had 10 points (6+4) in 8 games along with 12 PIM. He has also played 1 game for Lukko this season. During his career Kangasmäki has played 15 FEL games with 2 assists and 27 PIM. It is reported that Sport is very upset of this move as Kangasmäki was supposed to play remainder of the season with them and they made him the 1st line center for the team. Lukko also announced that they've released forward Olli Palola from his contract.

TPS has extended power forward Toni Mäkiaho's tryout with another month. "Mäkkäri" has had 4 points (2+2) and 8 PIM in 10 games so far.

Ilves has added center Antti Kangasniemi to their roster from local rivals Tappara. Kangasmäki had 9 games with 1 assist and 4 PIM with them this season. His career stats in FEL are 94 games, 34 points (14+20) and 64 PIM.

Tappara has signed forward Olli Palola and defender Tommi Kovanen. Palola was earlier today released by Lukko and is know signed by Tappara to a contract for the remainder of the season. Palola had not dressed for Lukko this season but had 3 games with Mestis team Sport collecting 1 assist and 2 PIM. Palola has 105 career games in FEL with 13 points (5+8) and 32PIM. Kovanen's contract lasts til November's national team break. Kovanen has not played this season and split last season with HIFK and Jokerit in FEL as well as K-Vantaa in Mestis. He is nicknamed Art Glass.
Kovanen's career stats:
FEL 441. 40+113=153 448 (24. 2+2=4 14)
NLA qualification 6. 0+2=2 12
Serie A 12. 1+3=4 10
Mestis 157. 21+47=68 108 (33. 4+19=23 10)
Tappara also added team legend and all time FEL assist and point leader Janne Ojanen to their coaching staff

Ässät has loaned out two players to Mestis. Power forward Niko Palonen joins Jukurit and Croatian winger Borna Rendulic is sent to SaPKo.

[Vasara]

2-divisioona team Bewe Hockey has signed former FEL tough guy Patrik Lostedt to a contract. Lostedt is nicknamed the Human Cannonball and has many fights in FEL and Mestis. He isn't the biggest guy (180cm/85kg) but has fought some of the biggest and toughest guys in FEL, for example former NHL enforcer Sami Helenius and big Jonne Virtanen. Lostedt can play both forward and defender
Career stats:
FEL 174. 5+7=12 497 (33. 1+0=1 99)
Mestis 145. 9+18=27 441 (16. 1+0=1 36)

Some of his fights:
vs Kristian Kudroc, Lostedt in red

Lostedt vs Kudroc

vs David Schneider, Lostedt in red

Patrik Lostedt vs David Schneider

vs Martin "Zinedine Zidane" Thörnberg, Lostedt in white

Thörnberg headbutts Lostedt like Zidane and gets...

[Vasara]

Lukko has signed Slovenian defender Mitja Robar to a contract for the remainder of the season. Robar started the season with IK Oskarshamn in Swedish Allsvenskan collecting 3 assists and 6 PIM in 9 games. His earlier career he has played for Slovenian teams in Slovenian league, IEL and Austrian EBEL. In EBEL he has 100 points (25+75) and 235 PIM in 233 games. He has represented Slovenia in 4 World Championship games (2005, 2006, 2008 and 2011) collecting 4 points (1+3) and 39 PIM in 23 games.

Tappara has made a couple of changes in their rosters. They've released American forward Jacob Cepis after 3 pointless games. Also their leader in points defender Tuukka Mäntylä has left the team. He's been signed by a so far unknown KHL team. As roster additions the team has signed forwards Jerry Ahtola and Teemu Tallberg from HIFK. Ahtola is big (192cm/91kg) but soft forward with some scoring touch. He was let go by HIFK because he had no points in 10 games. He scored 23 goals in 56 games in his best season in 2009-2010. His career stats in FEL are 229 games, 72 points (45+27) and 64 PIM in regular season and 25 games, 7 points (4+3) and 2 PIM in playoffs. Tallberg is a young forward who has played 3 games for HIFK in FEL this season. He has 15 career games in FEL with 3 points (1+2).

HIFK let forward Jerry Ahtola and Teemu Tallberg go to Tappara. The team has also loaned defenders Juho Mielonen and Ilkka Vaarasuo. Mielonen has played 1 game with Ässät this season and has 149 career games in FEL with 33 points (11+22) and 124 PIM. Vaarasuo has played 12 games with Jukurit in Mestis this season with 4 points (2+2) 14 PIM. He has 157 career games in Mestis with 43 points (12+31) and 143 PIM. In FEL he has 8 points (2+6) and 102 PIM in 188 games. Vaarasuo spent season 2006-2007 in Swedish Allsvenskan playing for Leksand with 6 points (1+5) and 64 PIM in 42 games.

[Vasara]

Tappara has signed 28-year old Czech defender Jan Platil (189cm/94kg) to a 1 month tryout contract. Platil is Ottawa Senators 7th round choice (218th) overall in 2001 NHL entry draft. He started this season with Czech team Orli Znojmo in the Austrian EBEL with 3 points (1+2) and 52 PIM in 10 games. Last season he split with 3 different leagues, Czech Extraliga (3. 0+0=0 0), Slovakian Extraliga (2. 0+0=0 0) and DEL (19. 0+0=0 60). In 2006-07 he played 25 games with 8 assists and 62 PIM for Lukko in FEL before going to Russia. He also represented Czech Republic in 2007 World Championship games. He has fought several tough guys during his career, for example Josh Gratton, Brandon Sugden, Rob Skrlac, Brett Clouthier and Reid Simpson
Platil's career stats:
AHL 203. 7+20=27 552 (6. 0+1=1 4)
OHL 189. 34+88=122 413 (31. 2+10=12 71)
FEL 25. 0+8=8 62
DEL 19. 0+0=0 60 (2. 0+1=1 0)
KHL 60. 6+11=17 191 (1. 0+0=0 4)
RSL 64. 8+15=23 151 (16. 1+2=3 109)
CzEL 29. 0+0=0 50 (5. 0+1=1 35)
Slovakia 2. 0+0=0 0
EBEL 10. 1+2=3 52

vs James Wisniewski, Platil in black

Wisniewski vs Platil Mar 4, 2005

Lukko has loaned forward Sami Blomqvist for 2 games from Pelicans. With Pelicans he has so far 2 points (1+1) in 4 games this season. He has 73 career games in FEL with 16 points (10+6) and 48 PIM. He is the son of a former NHLer Timo Blomqvist. Despite his father being a tough player and the first Finnish guy to play tough and fight regularly in NHL, Sami has no fights in his career.

TPS has signed Canadian/Italian defender Mario Scalzo to a contract for the remainder of the season. He has started this season in Swiss NLA playing for EHC Biel and SC Bern. He had 5 points (3+2) and 25 PIM in 11 games during his stay in Switzerland. He represented Canada in 2011 World Championship games. He has a couple of fights in his career, the toughest opponent probably being Guillaume Lepine.
Career stats:
AHL 210. 13+74=87 168 (16. 0+5=5 18)
QMJHL 203. 50+137=187 351 (18. 7+17=24 16)
NLA 11. 3+2=5 25
DEL 96. 24+36=60 91 (6. 0+2=2 2)
EBEL 47. 10+30=40 116 (15. 4+8=12 16)

vs Nicolas Petrik, Scalzo in dark

Mario Scalzo Redbull Vs Niki Petrik VSV Villach...

vs Andy Schneider, Scalzo in white

Mario Scalzo - Schneyder / EC-Salzburg : KAC...

HPK has loaned forward Ville Hämäläinen, Jan-Mikael Juutilainen and Henri Tuominen. Hämäläinen is under contract with Jokerit, but they want nothing to do with him so he's started his season with K-Vantaa in Mestis collecting 1 assist and 4 PIM in 3 games. He played for HPK in 2008-2010. He has 462 career games in FEL with 130 points (42+88) and 226 PIM. His loan expires during the next national team break. Juutilainen also started this season in Mestis. He has played 7 games for K-Laser collecting 2 points (1+1). He has 103 career FEL games for Jokerit with 5 points (4+1) 14 PIM. He has also played in USHL (90. 15+17=32 34) for Waterloo Black Hawks in 2006-2008. His loan is a game-by-game loan with maximum length of 7 games. Tuominen comes from Ilves where he has played 13 games with 1 assist and 2 PIM this season. He has 60 career games in FEL with 10 points (4+6) and 8 PIM. He's on a similar as Juutilainen.

[Vasara]

HIFK has signed big (194cm/102kg) Swedish defender Daniel Fernholm to a contract for the remainder of the season. He started this season with HK Atlant Mytischi in KHL. He got released after 10 games with 0 points and 14 PIM. He played for Sweden in this year's World Championship games. Fernholm is Pittsburgh Penguins 4th round choice (101st overall) in 2002 NHL entry draft. HIFK has also loaned center Iivo Hokkanen from Mestis team KooKoo. This season Hokkanen has 17 points (8+9) in 13 games and is the 2nd in points in Mestis. In the opposite direction goes Finnish/Estonian grinder Siim Liivik. Both players are on a 1 week loan meaning Hokkanen will play 2 games for HIFK and Liivik will play 3 games for KooKoo.
Career stats for Fernholm:
AHL 27. 1+6=7 10
ECHL 42. 2+7=9 34 (9. 1+3=4 6)
SEL 246. 27+66=93 158 (50. 5+11=16 56)
Allsvenskan 56. 7+13=20 26
KHL 49. 1+9=10 40 (7. 0+0=0 4)
Serie A 7. 0+2=2 2
World Championships 17. 0+4=4 8

Career stats for Hokkanen:
FEL 125. 5+13=18 52 (19. 1+2=3 4)
Mestis 219. 53+112=165 201 (27. 2+8=10 10)

Career stats for Liivik:
USHL 44. 11+6=17 68 (9. 3+5=8 18)
FEL 165. 15+21=36 239 (21. 0+6=6 20)
Mestis 1. 0+0=0 0

HPK has loaned yet another forward as Nico Aaltonen joins the team until November's National Team break. Aaltonen is under contract with Ässät and has played 3 games for them this season with no points or PIMs.
Career stats:
FEL 117. 10+10=20 49 (19. 1+1=2 0)
Mestis 35. 11+14=25 20

Tappara has extended defender Tommi Kovanen's contract to last for the remainder of the season.

[Vasara]

Suomi-sarja team Kiekkohait has signed 37-year old former FEL tough guy Pasi Nielikäinen to a contract for the rest of the year. Nielikäinen had a tryout with some CzEL team (have forgotten which one) last season and has played his last official game in 2009-2010 for KLH Jindrichuv Hradec in Czech 2.liga. He has fought guys like Sami Helenius, Ryan VandenBussche, Dion Darling, Sean Selmser and Dennis Maxwell. Nielikäinen is nicknamed "The Cowboy from Nivala" and "The Pasi".
Career stats:
ECHL 39. 5+6=11 40
FEL 363. 25+22=47 846 (37. 1+2=3 47)
Mestis 18. 3+7=10 75
2-divisioona 55. 27+26=53 60
3-divisioona 20. 20+33=53 54
Czech 2.liga 1. 0+0=0 2

vs Ryan VandenBussche

Ryan Vandenbussche vs. Pasi Nielikäinen

Rivalry with Sami Helenius

Helenius-Nielikäinen rivalry

And also some fine skills by him
Pasi Nielikäinen veivaa koko kentän läpi

Mestis team K-Laser has signed defender Janne Niinimaa to a game-by-game contract.
Career stats
NHL 741. 54+265=319 733 (59. 3+21=24 60)
FEL 162. 18+43=61 169 (45. 2+12=14 59)
SEL 101. 13+41=54 102 (27. 1+8=9 20)
NLA 68. 17+38=55 147 (9. 0+1=1 20)
Mestis 70. 4+14=18 63 (4. 0+0=0 0)
2-divisioona 1. 0+2=2 2
World Championships 51. 5+15=20 66
Olympic Games 10. 0+6=6 10
World Cup 5. 0+0=0 2