Göte Emil Wälitalo (born July 18, 1956) is a

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 ...

former 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 ...

. Wälitalo began his career with his hometown team

Kiruna AIF Kiruna IF is an ice hockey club based in Kiruna, Sweden. , they will play in Hockeyettan (formerly named Division 1), the third level of ice hockey in Sweden. Their home arena is the Lombiahallen. The club was founded in 1988 as Team Kiruna IF ...

before joining

IF Björklöven IF Björklöven (often simply referred to as Björklöven or Löven) is a Sweden, Swedish professional ice hockey Club (organization), club in Umeå, Västerbotten, in northern Sweden. The club is currently playing in the second-tier league HockeyA ...

in 1980. He would spend the next eight season with Björklöven before retiring in 1988. He later head coach of Team Kiruna, IF Björklöven's J20 team and

Tegs SK Tegs SK is a Swedish football club located in Umeå. The club was founded in 1898. Background Tegs SK is a sports club that was founded in 1898. The club has specialised in ice-hockey, football and orienteering. In 1987 the club's football secti ...

. He also became an assistant coach of Sweden's under-18 team as well as a goaltending coach for Björklöven and

Vännäs HC Vännäs HC is a Swedish ice hockey club based in Vännäs, Västerbotten County. After being promoted from Division 2 in 2012, the club plays in Division 1, the third tier of ice hockey in Sweden Ice hockey in Sweden has a history going ba ...

. Walitalo also played for the Swedish national team and won a bronze medal at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

.Göte Wälitalo's profile at Sports Reference.com
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References

External links

1956 births Living people IF Björklöven players Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Swedish ice hockey goaltenders Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics {{Sweden-icehockey-bio-stub