HIFK, which plays in the Ice Hockey Championship League, announced on Monday its new acquisitions for the upcoming league season. Ville Peltonen starts his third season as head coach and together with HIFK’s director of sports Tobias Salmelainen with them they are putting together an extremely strong team in Helsinki.
Conductor and number one pack
Nordenskiöldinkatu, who returned to the domestic SM league last season, will be seen as the number one center in the coming season Jori Lehterä, 35. The virtuoso known for his magical passes moves to Helsinki from Tappara in Tampere. The recent CHL and Finnish champion scored 11 goals and 57 power points in the regular season last season, finishing second to HPK in the entire league’s point exchange. Michael Jolyn after. In the playoffs, the pace was even a step faster, 17 power points in 14 fights brought the first place in the playoffs point exchange.
In the national team, Lehterä has the Olympic silver in Sochi, 2014, and the World Cup silver from the same spring from the games in Belarus. He was also involved in the 2016 Ice Hockey World Cup.
Born in Helsinki in 1987, the center forward has represented the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL arenas. Lehterä has played more than 300 matches in the KHL.
Before his long tour abroad, Lehterä won the SM league points exchange in the 2009–2010 season, with 19+50=69. Lehterä started his SM league career in the Jokers in 2006–2007.
Another recent HIFK acquisition who started his professional career in the Jokeris is a defender Sami Lepistö, 38. He returns to the SM league after a break of no less than sixteen years.
The experienced war horse has represented Finland three times at the Olympics and four times at the World Championships. He was with the Lions in bringing the championship from Bratislava’s golden spring in 2011.
Lepistö, who turns 39 in the fall, has played 176 NHL games in four different organizations and 466 KHL games in five different teams in his career.
Last season, Lepistö represented the SCL Tigers playing in the Swiss league, whose back lines he scored 5+15 power points. In the season before that, Lepistö won silver in the Swedish SHL in the shirt of Luulaja.
Sam’s father, Jussi Lepistö, represented HIFK in the SM league for three seasons between 1987 and 1990.
Karhunen and Sund at the stern, Ikonen at the top
Performed excellently between the posts of HIFK in the season that ended Roope Taponen will now have a tough competitor, after saving one match with the Reds’ goal last season Tomi Karhunen arrives in place Niilo Halonen departure.
Karhunen, originally from Joensuu, has won three Finnish championships, one in Tappara and two in the Kärppie ranks. In addition, there is a belt from the Slovakian championship HC Slovan Bratislava team.
The 33-year-old Karhunen is an experienced goalkeeper who knows what it takes to win, even though the last few years have been spent in the Jokipoikien school with a suitcase packed. During the previous seven seasons, the goalkeeper has represented no less than eleven different clubs.
2021 World Championship silver medalist Tony Sund makes a return to the SM League after three seasons spent abroad. The last time he played in Finland, Sund represented Turku Palloseura in the 2019–2020 season.
The defender’s last two years have passed in the Swedish SHL. Last season, the 27-year-old IFK Lepplax played 43 matches with 1+8 power points in the back lines of Rögle BK.
Like Jori Lehterä, the Pelicans appeared in the finals last season Joni Ikonen will move a hundred kilometers north of the highway for the coming season.
For the 24-year-old forward, HIFK is already the fourth club in the SM league. Previously, he has represented KalPa, Ilves and Pelicans, where he totaled the best power points of his career last season, 19+14=33.
The striker, who shoots from the right, has won silver and bronze in the SM league.
Super promise Kiviharju
One of the most interesting names in HIFK’s ranks in the coming season is a 17-year-old arriving from Turku Aron Kiviharju. The young defender was able to smell the pace of the league in a good twenty matches last season, grabbing three assist points in these struggles.
Kiviharju, who is hunting for his first league goal, is considered one of the top names in the 2024 NHL draft due to his smooth movement and great understanding of the game.
Kiviharju has played twice in the under-18 world championships, and in terms of age, the same opportunity will also be offered next spring, when the championships will be held in Finland (Espoo and Vantaa).
Kiviharju also took part in the under-20 World Championships last December-January, but did not get playing time in the tournament.
Sports director Salmelainen admits that signing a contract with a young promise is a different situation than with an experienced star player.
– Coaching and the club must have an understanding of what we are acquiring. That’s probably the biggest difference. What environment the young player is going to is one essential thing in these matters.
According to Salmelainen, Kiviharju is exceptional in nature.
– That’s his biggest strength, how mature he is for his age. I know this guy is going to turn every stone to maximize the potential of his career. What it is enough for is up to him.
Aron Kiviharju’s father is a former league hockey player Jani Kiviharjuwho won three Finnish championships in his career with TPS.
On the coaching side, HIFK has hired someone who worked as an assistant coach in Tappara and Ilves for a long time Marko Ojanen. Cory Murphy will not continue in the team’s coaching staff.
Last season, HIFK finished fourth, despite the great performances of the spring, when it lost to Ilves in the bronze medal match.
Updated 16.25: Added Salmelainen’s comments