Ilkka Pikkarainen (born April 19, 1981) is a Finnish

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 ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who last played for IPK in

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division'). ...

. Most of his career has been spent in the Finnish

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 ...

, though he also played 31 games in the

National Hockey League 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 ...

with the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

during the 2009–10 season.

Career

Pikkarainen began his professional career in the

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 ...

with

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 ...

at the end of the 2000–01 season. He played there for two full seasons and was drafted by the

in the seventh round of the

2002 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2002 NHL Entry Draft was the 40th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 and 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Two hundred and ninety-one players were drafted in total: 35 from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL); ...

, 218th overall. Pikkarainen came over to North America to play for the

Albany River Rats The Albany River Rats were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Albany, New York at the Times Union Center. History Before the formation of the franchise Without a viable indoor arena with a ...

, the Devils'

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

affiliate, starting in the 2003–04 season. After playing in the AHL for three seasons, Pikkarainen returned to play with HIFK for the 2008–09 season, where he played in 54 games and scored 24 goals, leading the team. The Devils re-signed Pikkarainen at age 28 on July 2, 2009, intending to keep him on the NHL roster. After missing the Devils' first game of the 2009–10 season with the stomach flu, Pikkarainen made his NHL debut on October 5 against the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

, and later scored his first NHL goal against the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

on December 16, 2009. In January 2010, Pikkarainen cleared waivers to play in the

KHL 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 ...

for CSKA Moscow after the Devils had decided that he was unable to fully adjust to the NHL style, partially for health reasons. In May 2010, Ilkka signed with Timrå IK in Sweden.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pikkarainen, Ilkka 1981 births Living people Albany River Rats players HC CSKA Moscow players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Finnish ice hockey right wingers HC TPS players HIFK (ice hockey) players Iisalmen Peli-Karhut players KalPa players Lahti Pelicans players New Jersey Devils draft picks New Jersey Devils players People from Sonkajärvi Ravensburg Towerstars players Timrå IK players Ice hockey people from North Savo Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States