Vesa Erik Hämäläinen is a left-handed retired Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 defenceman

Defenceman (ice hockey)

Defence in ice hockey is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring...

. Hämäläinen currently is an Ice hockey coach, employed by SM-liiga team Lukko

Lukko

Lukko is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga, formed 1936. The full name of the club is Rauman Lukko. They play in Rauma, Finland at the Äijänsuo Arena. They have won the national championship once, in 1963...

Early career

Erik Hämäläinen started his professional career with his hometown team, Rauman Lukko

Lukko

Lukko is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga, formed 1936. The full name of the club is Rauman Lukko. They play in Rauma, Finland at the Äijänsuo Arena. They have won the national championship once, in 1963...

, which played in the Finnish SM-Liiga

SM-liiga

The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

. He debuted during the 1982-1983 Season. Lukko was demoted from SM-Liiga after the 82-83 season, but gained promotion by winning the I-Divisioona in 1984. Hämäläinen played for six seasons (1982–1988) in Lukko. His last was cut short when an injury sidelined him for the most of the season.

In 1989, Hämäläinen moved to Kuopio and started to play for KalPa

KalPa

The Kalevan Pallo is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu.-Team history:Established in 1929, the full name of the company that runs the representative team is KalPa Hockey Oy. The majority of the company is owned by NHL players Sami Kapanen and...

. He stayed with KalPa for four Seasons (1989–1992) before transferring to Helsingin Jokerit

Jokerit

Jokerit is an ice-hockey team from Helsinki, Finland, playing in the Finnish Elite League, SM-liiga. The team has won 6 league championships...

 in 1992. During his three year stint with Jokerit, he won a gold and silver medal to accompany his two silver medals from KalPa and Lukko. He also won the European bronze medal during his first season with Jokerit.

World Championship victory and move to Sweden

After winning the 1995 World Championships with Finland, Hämäläinen was acquired by AIK. He played with the Swedish team for three seasons (1995–1998). He returned to his old team of Rauman Lukko in 1998. During his three seasons with Lukko, he played twice in the playoffs, but the team failed to get a place in the finals.

To Switzerland

During the 2000-2001 season, Hämäläinen moved to play for SC Langnau, a Swiss team. After a disappointing season in Switzerland, he returned again to Rauma Lukko.

Late career and retirement

During the 2005-2006 season, he broke the record for most SM-Liiga games played with his 865th game; the previous record was held by Pertti Lehtonen

Pertti Lehtonen

Pertti Lehtonen is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for HIFK. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998. His nickname was "Ruoska" because of his strong slapshot.-External links:*...

.

Hämäläinen played his last season during the 2007-08 SM-liiga Season. Hämäläinen played his 1000th SM-liiga Career game and after the season ended he announced his retirement from playing

Coaching career

Shortly after his announcement regarding his retirement, Hämäläinen was contracted to a 2+2 year contract by Lukko. Hämäläinen will start as an Assistant Coach for Lukko in the beginning of 2008-2009 SM-liiga season.

International play

Hämäläinen has played 108 games for Finland's national ice hockey team. He participated in four World Championship Tournaments (1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995), winning one gold medal (1995), two silver medals (1992, 1994). He was also part of the 1994 Olympic ice hockey team in Lillehammer, where the team won the bronze medal.

External links