Juha Leimu (born January 30, 1983 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 Finnish 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 ...

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 ...

Playing career

Leimu made his SM-liiga debut in 2009–10 when he was offered an eight-game trial period with

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, ...

having spent the start of the season in

Lempäälän Kisa Lempäälän Kisa (LeKi) is an ice hockey team from Lempäälä, Finland. They currently compete in the Suomi-sarja. Their home rink is Masku Areena, which currently has a seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be sea ...

. After the tryout his contract was extended for the rest of the season. Leimu recorded 24 points in 36 games and was awarded a three-year extension in May 2010. In 2010–11 Leimu had his career season with 12 goals and 31 points in 50 games. After his contract with Tappara expired,

Pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

signed Leimu to a two-year contract on April 26, 2013. During his opening season in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

Leimu led all Pelicans defencemen in goals scored with 10. In the 2013–14 playoffs Leimu scored the overtime goal in Game 2 that eliminated

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 ...

in the opening round. Prior the 2014–15 season Leimu was named the team captain. Leimu was sidelined on multiple occasions during the season due to injuries and recorded 16 points in 40 games. On November 20, 2014 he signed a two-year contract extension with Pelicans. Leimu holds 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 ...

record for the fastest hat-trick after scoring three power-play goals in just 44 seconds in a 5–6 overtime loss against

JYP Jyväskylä JYP is an ice hockey team playing in the Finnish top division Liiga. They play in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the LähiTapiola Areena. History JYP was founded in 1923. First it was the ice hockey section of the sports club ''Jyväskylän Palloilija ...

on December 15, 2015. Leimu's 16 goals in 2015–16 season were a league high for defensemen.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1983 births Living people Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ilves players KOOVEE players Lahti Pelicans players Lempäälän Kisa players Ice hockey people from Tampere Tappara players {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub