Aron Kiviharju (born 25 January 2006) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

-born,

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 ...

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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

for

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

of the

Finnish Elite League 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 ...

(SM-liiga). He is considered one of the most promising players in his age group, and a likely first round pick at the 2024 NHL draft.

Career

The

Dubuque Fighting Saints The Dubuque Fighting Saints are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and are based in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River at the border intersects of Iowa, Illinois, and W ...

drafted Kiviharju as the 147th pick in the 2022

USHL The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

Futures Draft. However, he continued to play with TPS for the 2022–23 season. Kiviharju made his professional debut at only 16 years old in the second round of 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 ...

on 4 September 2022 against

EV Zug EV Zug is a professional men's ice hockey team from Zug, Switzerland. It is a member of the National League and plays its home games at the Bossard Arena. History EV Zug won its first championship in the 1997–98 season, and the second one in t ...

. He was marked as the seventh defender of TPS. Kiviharju had 13:47 minutes of ice time in the match, ending in a 0–4 loss for TPS. Kiviharju made his SM-liiga debut in the opening round of the regular season on 13 September away game against

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

. Kiviharju played 21 games and scored three points in the 2022–23 season. For the 2023–24 SM-liiga season Kiviharju switched clubs by joining

. Kiviharju suffered an injury requiring an operation. IFK Helsingfors did not disclose what kind of injuri Kiviharju is suffering, but he will be expected back in February 2024.

Career statistics

Personal life

Aron "Arska" Kiviharju was born in

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

, Denmark, while his father,

Jani Jani may refer to: * Jani (given name), a male name in Finland, Hungary; a female name in South Africa * Réka Luca Jani, a Hungarian female tennis player * Jani (letter), a Georgian letter * Jani, Iran, a village in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, ...

, was playing with

EfB Ishockey The Esbjerg Energy is a Danish professional ice hockey team based in Esbjerg, Denmark, playing in the Metal Ligaen, the top tier of Danish ice hockey. The club was founded in 2005 and play their home games in the Granly Hockey Arena which has a c ...

. Kiviharju grew up in

Raisio Raisio (; sv, Reso) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in south-western Finland and an important junction of major roads. The town has a population of () and is located in the region of So ...

, Finland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiviharju, Aron 2006 births Living people 21st-century Finnish people Finnish ice hockey defencemen HC TPS players Sportspeople from Esbjerg People from Raisio Ice hockey people from Southwest Finland HIFK (ice hockey) players