Miro Karjalainen (born May 23, 1996) 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 ...

player, currently playing for

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 ...

of 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 ...

Playing career

Miro Karjalainen began his career in 2011–12 season playing for

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 ...

in the C-junior SM-Liiga (U-16 League of Finland). For the start of 2012-2013 season Karjalainen left Espoo Blues and joined in Kiekko-Vantaa to play in their team in the B-junior SM-Liiga (U-18 League of Finland). Later on that season Karjalainen left Kiekko-Vantaa and joined back to his youth team EKS to play the B-junior SM-Liiga, he also got to play two games in EKS Men's elite-team that played on 5th highest league of Finland. In 2013–14 season Karjalainen played in

Jokerit Helsinki Helsingin Jokerit (English: Joker (playing card), 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) ...

B-junior team where he at the end of the season won U-18 League Championship of Finland. In April 2014 Miro Karjalainen was named on the 139th spot in the European Skaters Ranking regarding the

2014 NHL Entry Draft The 2014 NHL Entry Draft was the 52nd NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 27–28, 2014 at the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia), Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The top three selections were Aaron Ekblad, ...

. Eventually, he was drafted by

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

on 5th. round (135th overall). Under the 2014–15 season Karjalainen made a three-year Liiga contract with HIFK Helsinki. His start of the season however was ruined by an injury and eventually he got to play just 10 regular season and 3 playoff games in the HIFK A-juniors (U-20 League of Finland) and couldn't made his elite league debut just yet. Karjalainen played his debut game in the Liiga in 2015-2016 season on December 4, 2015 against HPK when he was hoisted up from the A-juniors due to injured players in the HIFK's main roster. That game was one of the two games Karjalainen got to play in the elite team, most of the regular season he played still with the A-juniors and took 105 penalty-minutes which earned him the 3rd spot in the A-Junior SM-Liiga Penalty Ranking. At the end of the season, Karjalainen was lend to Kiekko-Vantaa where he played 7 regular season and 7 playoff games scoring two assists in the second-highest men's league of Finland named Mestis. On the 2016–17 season, Karjalainen found his way in to the HIFK's main roster. He tallied his first career Liiga-goal on his 4th career Liiga-game with a one-timer-slap-shot from the blue-line against

Eero Kilpeläinen Eero Kilpeläinen (born May 7, 1985) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who last played for KalPa in the Liiga. He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the 5th round (144th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. After playing t ...

of KalPa on September 27, 2016. Karjalainen tied the game just 2.40 left of the regular-time and after HIFK eventually won the game Karjalainen was awarded as the 1st-star of the game. Miro Karjalainen played 4 regular season games in the Liiga and one Champions Hockey League game before signing a one-year AHL-contract with the Dallas Stars affiliate, the

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the t ...

after attending their 2016 training camp. He was assigned to begin his first North American season, with

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

affiliate, the

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, th ...

, on October 11, 2016. Karjalainen played out the season with the Steelheads, registering just 3 points in 24 games as he was unable to impress to feature with the Texas Stars. On April 28, 2017, Karjalainen opted to return to the Finnish ranks, securing a one-year contract with

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

of the Liiga.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Karjalainen, Miro 1996 births Living people Dallas Stars draft picks Finnish ice hockey defencemen HIFK (ice hockey) players HPK players Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) players Kiekko-Vantaa players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States