Mika Stefan Hannula (born 2 April 1979) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 h ...

player.

Playing career

Hannula started playing ice hockey with

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 ...

team TPS. He is a hard-working and quick player with very good skating abilities. He is intense, works hard and is dangerous around the opponent's net. Hannula was drafted in 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); ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

with their 9th choice, 269th overall selection. During his career, he has played for three different hockey teams in the Stockholm area:

AIK Hockey Allmänna Idrottsklubben Ishockeyförening (abbreviated ''AIK IF'', also known as ''AIK Hockey'', often abbreviated ''AIK'' in hockey subjects), is the ice hockey department of sports club Allmänna Idrottsklubben based in Stockholm, Sweden. S ...

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is name ...

and Hammarby IF. He also tried playing in the United States for the Houston Aeros 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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

during the season 2003–04, totalling 27 points in 67 regular season games. During the semifinal game in the 2006 World Championships in Riga, Latvia, 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 ...

, Hannula cross-checked the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

player

Sidney Crosby Sidney Patrick Crosby (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Sid the Kid" and dubbed " The Next One", he was selected first o ...

to the neck and head area when Crosby was celebrating a goal he just had scored. Hannula was immediately suspended for the final game against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, and later the

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

Disciplinary Committee extended his suspension to the first four games of the 2007 World Championships in Moscow, Russia, plus a fine of 5,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

(approx. $6,400). The Swedish club HV71 signed Hannula from

Malmö Redhawks The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games. The history of the ...

in April 2005, for three years. He played for the club in one season and started the 2006–07 season successfully. Although, on November 13, 2006, HV71's general manager Fredrik Stillman announced through the club's web site that Hannula will take an indefinite break from ice hockey due to personal reasons. One week later, November 20, it was noted that he participated in a training session with the Stockholm-based club

Vallentuna BK Vallentuna BK is a Swedish football club located in Vallentuna. Background Since their foundation in 1919 Vallentuna Bollklubb has participated mainly in the lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The club currently plays in D ...

, where Hannula's younger brother played at the same time. On December 1, HV71's chairman Hans-Göran Frick announced that the club let Hannula go and broke his contract, which had one year left. Hannula signed on December 19 with the Russian club

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

in the Russian Super League. After his first season in RSL, scoring 15 points in 23 games, Hannula signed with SKA Saint Petersburg for one year. According to media, the contract was worth approximately 770,000 euro after

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

deductions. After an unsuccessful season, scoring 14 points in 46 games, he signed with

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (1946–present, russian: ЦСКА Москва, Центральный Спортивный Клуб Армии, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. The club i ...

in June 2008. Hannula signed a short-term contract with Djurgårdens IF in December 2009 when Djurgården temporarily lost three players, Daniel Brodin,

Jacob Josefson Jacob Peter Josefson (born 2 March 1991) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey centre who last played for Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). After Josefson began playing hockey at the age of five, he was acquired by Djurg ...

and Marcus Krüger, to the

World Junior Hockey Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

. He had previously practiced with Djurgården's J20 team before signing on for the senior team. After his stint at Djurgården he moved on to KHL team Salavat Yulaev. Hannula played a total of 13 games, scoring 3 goals and 10 points. He moved on to league rival

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They ...

for the

2010–11 KHL season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

; however, he was able to play only one game for the team due to an injury. His contract was terminated and he spent the rest of the 2010 fall rehabilitating. Hannula signed on again for Djurgården in the beginning of January 2011, a contract that expired at the end of the

2010–11 Elitserien season The 2010–11 Elitserien season was the 36th season of Elitserien. The regular season ran from 15 September 2010 to 5 March 2011, and the following playoffs ended on 14 April. HV71 won the regular season, scoring the game-winning empty net goal ag ...

. On 30 August 2011, Hannula signed a contract of unknown duration with

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

of the Swedish Elitserien. The contract ended on 16 October, one day after a game against

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

which ended 3–1 in Modo's favour. Hannula recorded two goals and one assist in that game, but after just two goals in twelve games he was not expected to stay with the team. However, on 17 October 2011, Hannula extended his contract with Modo to expire on 5 November. On 21 November 2011, 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 ...

team

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

announced having signed the forward for the current season.

Off the ice

Hannula is of

descent through his father, and he has a younger brother,

Ronnie Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

, who is also a hockey player.

Awards

* Played in the Elitserien All-Star Game in 2002. * Silver medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2003. * Gold medal at the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

in 2006. * Gold medal at the World Championships in 2006.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannula, Mika 1979 births Living people Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Espoo Blues players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players HC CSKA Moscow players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players HV71 players Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Malmö Redhawks players Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Minnesota Wild draft picks Modo Hockey players Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey Salavat Yulaev Ufa players SKA Saint Petersburg players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swedish ice hockey right wingers Swedish people of Finnish descent