Mika Helkearo (born October 4, 1960) 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. He was born in

Forssa Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Proper region, and which is crossed by Highway 2 ...

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 ...

. Helkearo is best known from his tenure in Finnish First Division team

FPS FPS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "F.P.S." (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent''), an episode of the TV show ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' * '' fps magazine'', a defunct magazine about animation * ''The Fabulous Picture Show'', a televi ...

where he posted 817 points in 580 First Division games. Helkearo's records are being considered virtually unbreakable and he holds the records for most Mestis/1. Divisioona games, most Mestis/1. Divisioona assists and most Mestis/1. Divisioona points as Håkan Hjerpe, the only one who is even close to Helkearo's numbers has the record for most Mestis/1. Divisioona goals (317 goals). Cause of this, Helkearo is called "Divarin Gretzky", Gretzky of the First Division, as a nod to famous

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 ...

player

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

, who has big numbers on his all-time stats for NHL. Helkearo also played in the top league of Finland, 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 ...

where he played two seasons 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 ...

, 1981–82 and 1982–83, one season for

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 ...

, 1983–84 and a single game for

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 ...

in 1993–94 season. Helkearo retired in 1996. Helkearo was 36 years of age when he retired. Helkearo's Jersey number 15 has been retired by FPS.

Career statistics

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helkearo, Mika 1960 births Living people People from Forssa FoPS players Jokerit players HIFK (ice hockey) players HPK players Finnish ice hockey forwards Sportspeople from Kanta-Häme