Juha Kaunismäki is a 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...

-born Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 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...

, who currently plays with Stavanger Oilers

Stavanger Oilers

Stavanger Oilers is an ice hockey club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the GET-ligaen, which is the top division in Norwegian ice hockey. The club's official name is Stavanger Ishockeyklubb, but it is commonly known as Oilers...

 of the Norway's elite GET-ligaen

GET-ligaen

GET-ligaen is the premier Norwegian ice hockey league, organised by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation. The league was known as 1. divisjon until 1990, when it was reorganized and named Eliteserien . That name was held until 2004 when cable TV company UPC became main sponsor...

.

Career

Kaunismäki began playing in Finland with the 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...

 organization's junior teams. The later played for Kiekko-Vantaa of the third-level Suomi-sarja

Suomi-sarja

The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third-highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 4 divisions. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999-2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provincial Series since 1947. During the 1990s the series also...

 and the second-level Mestis

Mestis

Mestis, , is the second-highest ice hockey league in Finland.The league was established in 2000 to replace the first division. Since 2000, Mestis has been the highest hockey league in Finland that can be reached with playing merits only; the SM-liiga was closed in 2000...

. Kaunismäki played a total of five seasons in Mestis league, two with Kiekko-Vantaa and three with Ahmat Hyvinkää. In 2003 he joined Stavanger of the Norwegian league.

International career

Kaunismäki was selected to play for the Norway men's national ice hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

. He previously represented Norway at 2008 and 2009 World Ice Hockey Championships after changing his citizenship.

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