Esa Juhani Keskinen (born 3 February 1965 in

Ylöjärvi Ylöjärvi () is a town and a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region, northwest of Tampere and north of the capital city Helsinki in Finland. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a retired

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Playing career

Keskinen was drafted by the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

as their fifth-round pick, 101st overall, in the

1985 NHL Entry Draft The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was the 23rd NHL Entry Draft. It was the first draft outside Montreal. The event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and attended by 7,000 fans. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams sele ...

, but never played in the

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 ...

anytime in his active playing career. Playing for

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League s ...

in the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

, he won the Swedish national championship during the 1994–95 season. During the 1995–96 season Keskinen formed with his fellow Finn

Kai Nurminen Kai Ilmari Nurminen (born March 29, 1969) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward, who last played with Herlev Hornets in the Danish Oddset Ligaen. Career Nurminen started and played most of his ice hockey career with TPS in SM-lii ...

a proficient goal-scoring duo, still playing for HV71. During his years in HV71 he was a popular player among the fans and drew by himself large crowds to the club's, at the time, arena

Rosenlundshallen Rosenlundshallen was Sweden's first ice hockey arena and was located in Jönköping. The arena was HV71's home arena until 2000 when it was replaced by Husqvarna Garden The Husqvarna Garden, formerly Kinnarps Arena, is an indoor arena, primaril ...

. Keskinen recorded 658 points (215 goals, 443 assists) and 130 penalty minutes in 478 games in SM-liiga playing for TPS and Lukko. In Elitserien he totalled 203 games with 209 points (61 goals, 148 assists) and 148 penalty minutes playing for HV71. He has been noted for most points in SM-liiga in seasons 1987-88 (69 points), 1992–93 (59 points) and 1993-94 (70 points).

Awards

* Silver medal at the 1988

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. * Awarded the

Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy The Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy () is a Finnish ice hockey trophy awarded by the Liiga to the player who scores the most points during regular season play. It was first awarded to Henry Saleva of Kärpät in the 1977–78 SM-liiga season. The tro ...

in 1988, 1993 and 1994. * SM-liiga champion with TPS in 1993 and 2000. * Awarded the

Kultainen kypärä Kultainen kypärä ("the Golden Helmet") is an ice hockey award given to the best player in the Finnish Liiga. It is voted for by the players. It has been awarded since 1987. In addition, a long running tradition by Veikkaus is for the current best ...

trophy in 1994. * Awarded

Lasse Oksanen trophy The Lasse Oksanen trophy is an ice hockey trophy awarded by the Finnish Liiga to the best player of the season during regular season play. Trophy winners: 1993-94: Esa Keskinen ( TPS) 1994-95: Saku Koivu (TPS) 1995-96: Juha Riihijärvi (Lukko) ...

in 1994. * SM-liiga Best Player of Regular Season 1993–94. * Bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. *

playoff winner with

in 1995. * Gold medal at the 1995

Ice Hockey World Championship 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 ...

. * Awarded

Guldhjälmen Guldhjälmen (''The Gold Helmet'') is a Swedish ice hockey award, which is awarded annually to the's most valuable player of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) as decided by a vote of each league’s pla ...

(Most Valuable Player) in 1996.

Records

* HV71's club record for assists in one season (41) * HV71's club record for points in one season (59)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keskinen, Esa 1965 births Living people Calgary Flames draft picks Finnish ice hockey centres Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Lukko players Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Finland People from Ylöjärvi HC TPS players Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa