Raimo Olavi Summanen (born March 2, 1962) is a 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 ...

forward and the current head coach of HIFK of the Finnish Elite League. He is also a former coach of the Finnish national team. He was selected by the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

in the sixth round of the

1982 NHL Entry Draft The 1982 NHL Entry Draft was the 20th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the reverse order of the 1981 ...

, 125th overall, and spent his NHL career with Edmonton and the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

Playing career

In 1984 Summanen, who was born in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

, joined the Edmonton Oilers from Europe at the end of the regular season. He played 2 regular season games, and 5 playoff games. Summanen has a 1984 Stanley Cup ring, and is part of Edmonton Oilers first Stanley Cup winning picture. His name was left off the Cup, because he did not officially qualify. Summanen also played extensively in

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 ...

, both before and after his NHL days, and 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 ...

. He played for the Finnish national team when they won their first

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 annual ...

gold medal in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, and retired after the tournament.

Coaching career

Summanen coached the Finnish National Team to a 2nd-place finish in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. However, his reported abrasiveness with players and management led to his dismissal. Even during Finland's successful World Cup performance, defenceman

Janne Niinimaa Janne Henrik Niinimaa (born May 22, 1975) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, and Montreal ...

left the team after "conflicts with the coaching staff." He also had a testy relationship with the national team's manager, Timo Jutila. In 2010, Summanen succeeded Igor Nikitin as the head coach of Avangard Omsk, a leading

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 b ...

side. The team went from strength to strength and ended up as the top team of the regular season (largely due to an impressive 18-game winning streak lasting from December to February). However, some players were reportedly unhappy with Summanen's abrasive coaching methods. He was relieved of his coaching duties before game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which the team went on to lose. The club cited health issues as an official explanation. However, according to anonymous sources within the team, the real reason behind it was a major conflict with the players. There were reports that Summanen even tried to challenge Avangard's star

Jaromír Jágr Jaromír Jágr (; born 15 February 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger for and the owner of Rytíři Kladno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguin ...

to a fight.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

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 ...

, Kanada-malja ''(3)'':

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

IIHF European Cup The IIHF European Cup, also known as the Europa Cup, was a European ice hockey club competition for champions of national leagues which was contested between 1965 and 1997, governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). History The co ...

''(1)'':

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

* Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy for most points scored in the SM-liiga regular season - 1989 and 1990 head coach *

, Kanada-malja ''(1)'': 2001–02 *

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 ...

for best coach in the SM-liiga - 2002 *

IIHF Continental Cup The Continental Cup is a second-level ice hockey tournament for European clubs (behind Champions Hockey League), begun in 1997 after the discontinuing of the European Cup. It was intended for teams from countries without representatives in the E ...

''(1)'': 2002–03 *

World Cup of Hockey The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held every 3 to 5 years from 1976 to 1991 and was the first international hockey championship to allow natio ...

''(1)'': 2004 *

, Continental Cup ''(1)'':

2010–11 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. ...

* KHL,

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

''(1)'': 2011-12 *

Alps Hockey League The Alps Hockey League (AlpsHL) is a 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 s ...

, ''(1)'': 2020–21

Transactions

*March 10, 1987 - Edmonton trades Summanen to Vancouver in exchange for

Moe Lemay Maurice Lemay (born February 18, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 317 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets. Lemay won the St ...

References

External links

*
Fired from Team Finland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summanen, Raimo 1962 births Edmonton Oilers draft picks Edmonton Oilers players Finland men's national ice hockey team coaches Finnish ice hockey left wingers Finnish ice hockey coaches Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Flint Spirits players Fredericton Express players HPK players Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Ilves players Jokerit players Living people Nova Scotia Oilers players Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Sportspeople from Jyväskylä St. Louis Blues scouts SC Bern players Stanley Cup champions HC TPS players Vancouver Canucks players