Jere Karalahti
Encyclopedia
Jere Juhani Karalahti is a Finnish professional 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...

 now playing for Dinamo Minsk
HC Dinamo Minsk
Dinamo Minsk is an ice hockey team based in Minsk, Belarus. They are members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playoffs only once, during the 2010-11 KHL season....

 in the Kontinental Hockey League
Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....

. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

 as their sixth-round pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft
1993 NHL Entry Draft
The 1993 NHL Entry Draft took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisee de Quebec in Quebec City, Quebec.-Selections by round:Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise specified.-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...

.

Early career in Finland

Karalahti played his first major ice hockey games for HIFK
HIFK (ice hockey)
HIFK is an ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall. It was founded in 1897...

 during the 1993–94 SM-liiga season
1993–94 SM-liiga season
-Standings:-Quarterfinalss:* TPS - HIFK 3:0 * Ässät - Tappara Tampere 2:3 * Jokerit - Ilves 3:1 * Lukko - JYP 3:1 -Semifinal:...

. Karalahti was soon seen as a good physical defenceman and he began to have more ice time season by season. Karalahti's best 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...

 moment came in 1998 when HIFK won the SM-liiga championship over Ilves
Ilves
Ilves is a Finnish sports club nowadays mostly known for their youth work. The ice hockey team plays in the SM-liiga at the Tampereen jäähalli in Hakametsä...

. Karalahti played a good season, posting a career high in points (30pts). Karalahti improved his record by three points in the following season and was offered a contract by the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 club the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

.

NHL

Karalahti moved to North America in 1999 after difficulties with his visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...

, playing the rest of the season for the LA Kings. After a good first season, Karalahti's time on ice was reduced and he eventually requested a trade to the Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

, which he got in 2001. In the summer of 2002 Karalahti was suspended for six months by the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 for a drug violation, and he returned to Finland.

Return to Finland

Upon returning to the SM-liiga, Karalahti resumed his role as one of HIFK's premier defensemen. Head coach Doug Shedden
Doug Shedden
Douglas Arthur Shedden is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He coached Team Finland to a bronze medal in 2008 World Championships...

 made Karalahti team captain for the 2005–06 season, but he lost most of the season due to injuries. At the close of the season, Karalahti stirred up controversy by refusing to play in the bronze medal game for the second time in his HIFK career, citing a lack of interest. He was subsequently stripped of his captaincy. Karalahti's contract was not renewed by HIFK and he left the club he had been representing his entire career in Finland.

Karalahti was approached by several European teams including 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...

 and Kölner Haie
Kölner Haie
The Kölner Haie are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany that plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team was one of the founding members of the DEL.The team colours are red and white....

 but he chose Oulun Kärpät
Kärpät
Oulun Kärpät is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga based in Oulu, Finland. Their logo features a stoat ; "kärpät" is Finnish for stoats or ermines. The team has won five league championships .-History:...

, a Northern Finland team which had rapidly risen to the Finnish Ice Hockey Elite. During his debut season Karalahti returned to his own level as the leading defenceman of Kärpät. Karalahti was released from Kärpät after he was arrested by Finnish police and taken into custody.

Later career

After being a free agent for some time Karalahti was apporached by HC Slovan Bratislava
HC Slovan Bratislava
Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava is a professional ice hockey team in the Slovak Extraliga from the Slovak capital Bratislava. They play their home games at Samsung Arena....

, a top Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

n side which is the current Slovakian League champion. Karalahti's move to Bratislava came to jeopardy after the transfer fell through cause of missing signature in the transfer document's. Juuso Pulliainen, Karalahti's agent, asured that both the Slovakian Ice Hockey Administration and Finnish Ice Hockey Administration have agreed that Karalahti's rights are owned by Slovan, hence meaning he can play for Slovan if he wants to. However, Karalahti has stated that he wants to clear things in Finland before rushing into anything.

On July 24, 2008 Jere Karalahti signed a contract with the Germany Elite League Club Hamburg Freezers
Hamburg Freezers
The Hamburg Freezers are a member of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga that play their games in Hamburg, Germany. Originally known as the Munich Barons from 1999 until 2002, team owner Philip Anschutz relocated the franchise to Hamburg for financial reasons on 3 June 2002, and renamed the team the...

 in Germany for the 2008–09 season.

In May 2009, Karalahti announced that he would leave Hamburg to play for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Kontinental Hockey League
Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....

. However, only a few weeks later he changed his mind and decided to re-sign with the Freezers instead.

In 2011, Karalahti joined Dinamo Minsk
HC Dinamo Minsk
Dinamo Minsk is an ice hockey team based in Minsk, Belarus. They are members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playoffs only once, during the 2010-11 KHL season....

 in the Kontinental Hockey League
Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....

.

Substance abuse

In a January 21, 2002 interview with Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

Karalahti detailed his history of drug use, which included an arrest in 1996 for possession of various quantities of marijuana, amphetamine
Amphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...

s and heroin that resulted in a brief suspension by the 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 told the magazine that he had been drug-free for five years. Nevertheless, on August 16 of that year, the NHL suspended him for six months for his third violation of the league's substance abuse policy. However, this time the violation involved alcohol, not drugs. Following the suspension, Karalahti returned to Finland.

His NHL suspension resulted in him being unable to compete in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey
2004 World Cup of Hockey
The 2004 World Cup of Hockey was an international ice hockey tournament. It was the second installment of the National Hockey League -sanctioned competition eight years after the inaugural 1996 World Cup of Hockey. It was held from August 30 to September 14, 2004, and took place in various venues...

.

For the 2007–08 season, Karalahti signed a contract with Oulu Kärpät, the then SM-liiga champion. This was his first time playing for any other Finnish team than his 'home team', Helsinki IFK. It was speculated that he would attempt a comeback in the NHL, and with this in mind had set a very strict contract with Kärpät that allowed no drug abuse and included regular check-ups with the team doctor.

On November 6, 2007, the Finnish police came to an Oulun Kärpät practice session and took Jere Karalahti away for questioning. He was later transferred to Espoo where he was heard about his further involvement in a drug-ring. The Espoo district court arrested him for suspicion of a gross drug felony.

On December 12, 2007, he was released from his contract with Kärpät.

On January 29, 2008, he was charged with smuggling 9 lbs (4.09 kg) of amphetamines into Finland. He also allegedly provided euro 20,000 ($29,000 USD) for smuggling operations, the prosecutor said. He has denied all charges. The drug ring is suspected of smuggling about 20 kilograms of amphetamines and hundreds of grams of cocaine from Estonia to Finland last year. The charges carried a maximum penalty of up to six years in prison. Karalahti was convicted and given a 20-month suspended sentence. Both Karalahti and the prosecution say they will appeal.

On March 20, 2008, in Espoo District Court, Jere Karalahti was put on probation for 20 months and also fined €10000.

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season
Season (sports)
In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...

Team League GP G
Goal (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to...

A
Assist (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal...

Pts
Point (ice hockey)
Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one...

PIM
Penalty (ice hockey)
A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...

GP G A Pts PIM
1993–94 HIFK
HIFK (ice hockey)
HIFK is an ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall. It was founded in 1897...

SM-l
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...

46 1 10 11 36
1994–95 HIFK SM-l 37 1 7 8 42 3 0 0 0 0
1995–96 HIFK SM-l 36 4 6 10 102 3 0 0 0 4
1996–97 HIFK SM-l 18 3 5 8 20
1997–98 HIFK SM-l 43 14 16 30 59 9 2 0 2 8
1998–99 HIFK SM-l 49 11 22 33 65 11 1 1 2 10
1999–00 HIFK SM-l 13 2 2 4 55
1999–00 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 10 0 3 3 4
1999–00 Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

48 6 10 16 18 4 0 1 1 2
2000–01
2000-01 NHL season
The 2000–01 NHL season was the 84th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the New Jersey Devils...

Los Angeles Kings NHL 56 2 7 9 38 13 0 0 0 18
2001–02
2001-02 NHL season
The 2001–02 NHL season was the 85th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who won the best of seven series 4–1 against the Carolina Hurricanes.-League business:...

Los Angeles Kings NHL 30 0 1 1 29
2001–02 Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...

NHL 15 0 1 1 12
2003–04 HIFK SM-l 45 7 16 23 148 12 3 4 7 2
2004–05 HIFK SM-l 42 4 10 14 93 5 0 0 0 6
2005–06 HIFK SM-l 20 4 11 15 43 11 1 2 3 2
2006–07 HIFK SM-l 51 5 9 14 132 2 0 1 1 27
2007–08 Kärpät
Kärpät
Oulun Kärpät is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga based in Oulu, Finland. Their logo features a stoat ; "kärpät" is Finnish for stoats or ermines. The team has won five league championships .-History:...

SM-l 15 2 4 6 43
2008–09 Hamburg Freezers
Hamburg Freezers
The Hamburg Freezers are a member of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga that play their games in Hamburg, Germany. Originally known as the Munich Barons from 1999 until 2002, team owner Philip Anschutz relocated the franchise to Hamburg for financial reasons on 3 June 2002, and renamed the team the...

DEL 50 7 16 23 148 9 2 2 4 10
2009–10 Hamburg Freezers DEL 47 5 14 19 193
2010–11 Blues
Espoo Blues
The Blues are an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Espoo, Finland at the Barona Areena.-Team history:The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo and played their first season in 1984-1985 in the Finnish Second Division...

SM-l 53 11 19 30 147 18 0 5 5 36
NHL totals 149 8 19 27 97 17 0 1 1 20

International

Year Team Comp GP G A Pts PIM
1993 Finland EJC18 6 2 2 4 8
1994
1994 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 1994 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 17th edition of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and was held in Ostrava and Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic...

Finland WJC
World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The International Ice Hockey Federation World Under 20 Championship is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world...

7 3 2 5 4
1995
1995 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
The 1995 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 18th edition of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and was hosted in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada with games held throughout central Alberta...

Finland WJC 7 2 4 6 8
1998
1998 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
-World Championship Group C :Played March 22-28 in Budapest, Székesfehérvár and Dunaújváros.- Group 1 :- Group 2 :- Final Round 25-28 Place :Hungary was promoted to Group B.- Consolation Round 29-32 Place :...

Finland WC 10 4 3 7 6
1999
1999 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
-World Championship Group C:Played at Eindhoven and Tilburg, Netherlands April 5–11. Yugoslavia was supposed to particpate in this tournament, but was prevented by the host Dutch government.-Group 1:-Group 2:-Final Round 25-28 Place:...

Finland WC 12 5 3 8 2
2000
2000 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
-World Championship Group A :Final standings# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # — relegated to Division I for 2001# -World Championship Group B :...

Finland WC 9 1 1 2 8
2002
2002 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
The 2002 Men's Ice Hockey Championships were held between April 26 and May 11, 2002 in Gothenburg, Karlstad and Jönköping, Sweden.It was the 66th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation .- Championship :...

Finland WC 9 2 3 5 10
2004
2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
The 2004 Men's Ice Hockey Championships were held April 24-May 9, 2004, in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic. Games for this Ice Hockey World Championships tournament were played at Sazka Arena and ČEZ Aréna...

Finland WC 7 0 0 0 4
2005
2005 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
The 2005 Men's Ice Hockey Championships were held March 7 - May 15, 2005, in 7 cities in 6 countries: Vienna and Innsbruck, Austria ; Debrecen, Hungary ; Eindhoven, the Netherlands ; Zagreb, Croatia ; Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro ; Mexico City, Mexico...

Finland WC 7 1 3 4 6
Junior int'l totals 20 7 8 15 20
Senior int'l totals 54 13 13 26 36

External links

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