Matti Kuparinen 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...

 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...

 forward

Forward (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, a forward is a player position on the ice whose primary responsibility is to score goals. Generally, the forwards try to stay in three different lanes, also known as thirds, of the ice going from goal to goal. It is not mandatory however, to stay in a lane. Staying in a lane aids in...

 who currently plays 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...

 Kuopio

Kuopio

Kuopio is a city and a municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia, Finland. A population of makes it the ninth biggest city in the country. The city has a total area of , of which is water and half forest...

 of 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 started in 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...

 in the 2011-12 season with a two-year contract that was then extended to 2015. Before joining 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...

, Kuparinen played for another 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...

 team, Ässät

Ässät

Ässät is an ice hockey team in the Finnish elite league, SM-liiga. They play in Pori, Finland at the Porin jäähalli.-Team history:...

 Pori, for eight seasons from 2003 to 2011, of which he was team captain for over three years. Kuparinen played his first games in 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...

 in the season of 2003-04 and his first national team games in September 2008.

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