Pekka Tirkkonen (born July 17, 1968) 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 ...

ice hockey coach and 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. He most recently served as head coach of EHC Kloten of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL). Tirkkonen was selected by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

Playing career

Tirkkonen played 14 seasons in Finnland's top-tier

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 ...

, registering 161 goals, 236 assists, 397 points, and 241 penalty minutes, in 647 games played for

HC TPS TPS or Turun Palloseura is an ice hockey team and 10-time champion of SM-liiga and 1-time champion of SM-sarja. They play in Turku, Finland, at Gatorade Center. In terms of championships, TPS is the second all-time most successful team in SM-L ...

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuop ...

and

SaiPa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

. He won the championship with TPS in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Other stops in his playing career included Germany (

Starbulls Rosenheim Starbulls Rosenheim is a professional ice hockey team based in Rosenheim, Oberbayern, Germany. They currently play in Oberliga. Prior to the 2013–14 season they played in the 2nd Bundesliga. They play their home games at '' Rofa-Stadion'', loc ...

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburger EV ...

), Sweden (

Linköping HC Linköping Hockey Club, often known by its Acronym and initialism, initials LHC, or Colloquialism, colloquially among its fans as Cluben, is a Swedish ice hockey club from Linköping, founded in 1976. The home arena of the team is Saab Arena (fo ...

) and Denmark ( Herning Blue Fox). He claimed the Danish championship with Herning in 2005, 2007 and 2008, before retiring following the 2007–08 season.

Coaching career

Tirkkonen kicked off his career behind the bench immediately after retiring as a player and was appointed as head coach of Finnish second division side

SaPKo Savonlinnan Pallokerho (SaPKo) was an ice hockey team from Savonlinna, Finland, they formerly play in the Mestis league. It plays its home matches at the Talvisalo ice rink. The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929. First it ...

prior to the 2008–09 season. After four year at the helm and after receiving

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division' ...

Coach of the Year honors in 2012, he moved on and was named head coach of

of the country's top-tier

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 lea ...

ahead of the 2012-13 campaign. In the 2013–14 season, Tirkkonen won the

Kalevi Numminen Trophy The Kalevi Numminen trophy is an ice hockey award given by the Finnish Liiga to the best coach of the season. In 2019 it was awarded to Antti Pennanen of HPK. Trophy Winners: 1977-78: Kari Mäkinen ( Ässät) 1978-79: Veli-Pekka Roiha ( Reipas ...

as the league's Coach of the Year. He guided SaiPa to the Liiga semifinals that season, where they fell short to eventual champions Kärpät. Tirkkonen parted ways with

following the 2015–16 season and was named head coach of EHC Kloten of the

(NL) on June 24, 2016. He was fired on October 16, 2017, following poor coaching performances.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirkkonen, Pekka 1968 births Living people People from Savonlinna Finnish ice hockey right wingers Boston Bruins draft picks SaiPa players Sportspeople from South Savo