Marko Anttila (born 27 May 1985) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times ...

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 ...

. Anttila was selected by

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

in the 9th round (260th overall) of the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout, ...

. His nickname among his teammates is "Stretch" ("Stretsi" in Finnish), which was given to him by

Steve Kariya Steven Tetsuo Kariya (born December 22, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger and younger brother of former National Hockey League player Paul Kariya. Kariya was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Playing career Afte ...

due to his large physical stature, but among the Finnish fans, he is more commonly known as " Mörkö".

Playing career

Marko Anttila played his first senior-level ice hockey games during the 2003–04 season. Anttila's first team was his hometown team

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 ...

Lempäälä Lempäälä (; Swedish also ) is a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland with inhabitants (). Lempäälä is located south of the city of Tampere. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Th ...

Anttila scored 38 points in 22

Suomi-sarja The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third-highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 14 teams. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999–2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provinci ...

regular season games during his debut season. Though playing at the 3rd highest level in Finland, Anttila was drafted by the

in the

while he was playing for LeKi. It is believed that Anttila's connections with Chicago's scout for Finland,

Sakari Pietilä Sakari Pietilä (born 21 June 1954) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. Pietilä was a SM-liiga head coach with HPK for the 1995–96 SM-liiga season and Jokerit for the 1997–98 SM-liiga season. He was the head coach of the Es ...

, was the reason why he was drafted. His large size (over 6'8 ft tall) combined with his hard slap shot was the most convincing factors that influenced Sakari Pietilä to suggest him to the Blackhawks. After being drafted while playing for a small town's team, Anttila soon was reckoned as a player to invest in. Marko Anttila was contracted by

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 ...

in 2004. Anttila struggled during his first season in

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 ...

but soon got the hang of playing at higher levels. In 2007–08, Anttila scored his SM-liiga career-high when he racked up 23 points in 56 games, and he was selected to play for the Finnish National team during the European Hockey Tour. On 26 April 2011, Anttila made a one-year contract with TPS. In June 2013, it was announced that Anttila would join

Metallurg Novokuznetsk Metallurg Novokuznetsk (russian: Металлург Новокузнецк) is a professional ice hockey team from Siberia based in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. They are currently members of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). History The ...

of 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 ...

. After parts of three seasons with

Örebro HK Örebro HK is a Swedish ice hockey club located in Örebro. The team is currently playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top tier of Swedish ice hockey, since the 2013–14 season. The team's home arena is Behrn Are ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

, Anttila returned to the KHL, linking up on a one-year deal with Finnish-based club Jokerit on 20 April 2016. During the 2016–17 season, having added a physical presence to the checking lines, Anttila agreed to a two-year contract extension to remain with Jokerit on 8 January 2017. Anttila remained with Jokerit for six years before the club's withdrawal to the KHL before the playoffs in the 2021–22 season due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. He subsequently joined his original Finnish club, Ilves of the Liiga, on 28 February 2022, for the remainder of the campaign. On 16 June 2022, it was announced that Anttila has signed for

for the 2022–23 season.

International play

In 2019, Anttila served as captain when

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 ...

won their third

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

. He scored the only goal in the semi-final game against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, he scored two goals, including the game-winning goal leading Finland to a 3–1 victory.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anttila, Marko 1985 births Living people Ariada Volzhsk players Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Finnish ice hockey right wingers Ilves players Jokerit players Lempäälän Kisa players Metallurg Novokuznetsk players Örebro HK players People from Lempäälä HC TPS players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ice hockey people from Pirkanmaa