Ari Juhani Sulander (born 6 January 1969), nicknamed Sulo, is a retired

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Career in Finland

Sulander played nine seasons for

Jokerit Helsinki Helsingin Jokerit (English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002) ...

in Finland's

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

, winning four league championships (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997). He also won one Silver (1995), one Bronze (1998), two European Championships (1995 and 1996) and one European Championship Bronze (93). Sulander began with Jokerit as a Junior and progressed through the team all the way to position of No. 1 goaltender. During his Jokerit career, he played with SM-liiga stars such as

Otakar Janecký Otakar Janecký (born 26 December 1960 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia) is a retired Czech ice hockey forward. Career In his homeland Janecký represented HC Pardubice, his birthcity team for his entire Czechoslovak Extraliga and Czech Extraliga ...

Teemu Selänne Teemu Ilmari Selänne (; born July 3, 1970) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger. He began his professional career in 1989–90 with Jokerit of the SM-liiga and played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Winnipe ...

Waltteri Immonen Waltteri Immonen (born April 3, 1967 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and former coach of SM-liiga team Jokerit. Playing career Immonen started his playing career in Helsingin Jokerit, an ice hockey team fro ...

, and

Jari Kurri Jari Pekka Kurri (; born May 18, 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. In 2001, he became the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017 Kurri was named one ...

, who played for Jokerit during the

1994–95 NHL lockout The 1994–95 NHL lockout was a lockout that came after a year of National Hockey League (NHL) hockey that was played without a collective bargaining agreement. The lockout was a subject of dispute as the players sought collective bargaining and ...

. In his time there, Sulander was coached by top coaches like

Hannu Aravirta Hannu Aravirta (born 26 March 1953) is a Finnish ice hockey player and an ice hockey coach for the Finnish national men's team, SM-liiga and Elitserien. Career as player Aravirta was born in Savonlinna, and made his first professional appeara ...

Boris Mayorov Boris Aleksandrovich Mayorov (born February 11, 1938, in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a retired ice hockey player who played in the Soviet Hockey League. He played for HC Spartak Moscow. He was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame ...

, and Jukka Ropponen. In November 2010, Sulander joined the

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. Founded in 1996, they play in the city of Lahti at Isku Arena. The team is co-owned by (among others) former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Pasi Nurminen ...

on loan for six games.

Career in Switzerland

Sulander left Jokerit after winning Bronze in 1998 for a new challenge. Sulander played the final 14 years of his career with the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and playe ...

(Zürich) of the Swiss top League, the Nationalliga A. Sulander scored a goal during a Nationalliga A game in the 2002–03 season. Sulander won the NLA championship with ZSC four times (2000, 2001, 2008, 2012) and the

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

in 2008–09. In 2011, Sulander received his Swiss citizenship.

International career

Ari Sulander played for a total of 117 games for the Finnish national team (dressed in 117, played 68). He played in the 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

and the

1998 Winter Olympic Games The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

. In the World Championships Sulander won one Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze medals. Sulander also won the Bronze in the 1998 Winter Olympics and was a key player in the Bronze game against

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

star powered

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, led by

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

and

Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goaltender and executive, who serves as the head coach for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). In 2017, Roy was named o ...

. Besides the 1998 Olympic tournament, Sulander also played well in the 1998 Ice Hockey World Championships.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sulander, Ari 1969 births Living people Finnish ice hockey goaltenders Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Jokerit players Kiekko-Vantaa players Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Lahti Pelicans players Ice hockey people from Helsinki Swiss ice hockey goaltenders ZSC Lions players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Naturalised citizens of Switzerland Swiss people of Finnish descent