Jyrki Seppä (born 14 November 1961 in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

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 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 ...

player 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 ...

Playing career

Pre-NHL career

Jyrki Seppä started his active career in 1979, when he played for

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

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 ...

. Seppä played two seasons for Ilves before he moved to

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Seppä played 1981–82 season for Jokerit before he was contracted by

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

NHL career

Jyrki Seppä was drafted by the

in the

1981 NHL Entry Draft Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Fr ...

in the third round, 43rd overall. He played one season in the NHL for Winnipeg in 1983–84 and two seasons in the

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 ...

for the

Sherbrooke Jets The Sherbrooke Jets were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), based in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They were a farm team of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets. The team was coached by Rick Bowness in the 1982– ...

. During that NHL season, he played in 13 games picking up two assists and six penalty minutes.

After NHL

After his short NHL-visit, Seppä retired from active playing when he was 24 years of age. Seppä however returned and played again for

in SM-liiga. Seppä retired soon after his return season to Jokerit in 1986. The reason behind his early retirement was injuries and the lack of desire to play.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seppa, Jyrki 1961 births Living people Finnish ice hockey defencemen HPK players Ice hockey people from Tampere Ilves players Jokerit players Sherbrooke Jets players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players