Ilari Melart (born February 11, 1989) is a Finnish 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 ...

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 ...

currently playing 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

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 ...

Playing career

In 2006–07 he played 10 matches for the A-junior (top youth level in Finland) side and an additional 21 matches for the B-juniors. In 2007-08 he made 21 appearances for the A-juniors, which eventually earned him a spot in the first team. The year before Melart played in the United States for

Harwood Union High School Harwood Union High School is a mid-sized public secondary school located in Duxbury, Vermont. As a member of the Washington West Supervisory Union, the school serves the towns of Duxbury, Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield, Warren, and Waterbury. Th ...

in Duxbury,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Melart made his first appearance for HIFK's first team on November 13, 2008 away 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, ...

. Before joining the first team, Melart played with HIFK's different youth teams. On May 24, 2013 Melart signed as a free agent with the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

on a one-year entry-level contract. Melart moved to North America for the 2013–14 season and was assigned to the Blue Jackets' AHL team, the

Springfield Falcons The Springfield Falcons were a former ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) and played in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the MassMutual Center. In 2016, the Falcons' franchise was purchased by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ar ...

. He scored his first professional goal on November 23 against the

Hartford Wolf Pack The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a ...

. After 24 games with the Falcons, and unable to solidify a position on the blueline, Melart opted to be reassigned to the Russian

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

to play for

Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk Hockey Club Yugra (russian: Хоккейный клуб Югра), is a professional ice hockey team based in Khanty-Mansiysk, Yugra, Russia. They currently play in the Supreme Hockey League, the second-highest league in Russia, and played in the ...

. In 15 games he scored 1 goal and 5 points as Yugra were unable to qualify for the

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

. He then returned to the Falcons on March 25, 2013, to fulfil his contract. As a restricted free agent with the Blue Jackets, Melart opted to make a permanent return with Yugra of the KHL on May 19, 2014.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melart, Ilari 1989 births Living people Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Helsinki HIFK (ice hockey) players Kiekko-Vantaa players Springfield Falcons players HC Yugra players Luleå HF players Färjestad BK players Växjö Lakers players Adler Mannheim players