Veli-Pekka Ketola (born 28 March 1948) is a Finnish 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 hock ...

player and coach.

Playing career

Veli-Pekka Ketola played in the Finnish League,

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

, and

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 ...

. While Ketola was playing for the

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

of the Finnish League, he won the league scoring twice in 1971 and 1978 and was a six-time all-star. In 1974, Ketola went to North America to play for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

of the World Hockey Association. He played just over two and a half seasons, from 1974–75 to 1976–77, for the Jets and he played the last 17 games of the 1976–77 WHA season for the

Calgary Cowboys The Calgary Cowboys were an ice hockey team that played two seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1975–1977. The Cowboys played at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. The franchise was founded in 1972 as the Miami Screaming Eagles, t ...

. After those three years in the WHA, he returned to Finland to once again play for the Ässät Pori. Despite being signed by 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 of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

on 6 March 1979, he didn't play for a North American team again until he played 44 games for the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

of the NHL during the 1981–82 season.

Coaching career

Veli-Pekka Ketola coached Ässät Pori of the Finnish League from 1993–94 season to 1996–97 season's first six games. He returned to coaching in March 1999 to replace fired Esko Nokelainen. In addition to coaching Ketola was also Ässät General Manager from 1994–95 season to end of season 1999–00. Season 2003–04 he was briefly the head coach of Austrian

EHC Linz The Steinbach Black Wings Linz are a member of the Austrian Hockey League. They play their home games in Linz, Austria at the Keine Sorgen EisArena. History The EHC Black Wings Linz was founded in 1992. After several years in the Austrian minor ...

. He returned to Ässät Pori as a senior adviser for season 2013–14 and the following season. 2015 and 2016 he was a Team Manager of Finnish U20 National Team in the World Junior Championship games.

Honours and accolades

*General manager of the U20 Finnish team in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. *Six-time all-star in Finland. *Elected to the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990 as a player. *Won the Finnish Champion (

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish Liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 195 ...

) in 1964–65, 1970–71 and 1977–78. *Won the

Avco World Trophy The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association (1972– 1979). The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name originally derived from "Avi ...

in 1975–76. *Won the Best Hockey Player of Finland Trophy in 1974 and 1978. *Won the

Matti Keinonen trophy The Matti Keinonen Trophy () is an ice hockey award given by the Finnish 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 ...

in 1978–79. *His number 13 was retired by

Porin Ässät Porin may refer to: * Porin (protein), a transmembrane protein * ''Porin'' (opera), a Croatian grand opera, first performed in 1897 * Porin (music award) Porin is a Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Mus ...

. *He won the

Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy The Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy () is a Finnish ice hockey trophy awarded by the Liiga to the player who scores the most points during regular season play. It was first awarded to Henry Saleva of Kärpät in the 1977–78 SM-liiga season. The tro ...

the year it was introduced (1978). *Led the Finnish League in scoring in 1971. *Ketola played as the

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on Finland national team for the first two

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

tournaments in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ketola, Veli-Pekka 1948 births Living people Sportspeople from Pori Finnish ice hockey centres Ässät players Ässät coaches Calgary Cowboys players Colorado Rockies (NHL) players KalPa players Karhut Pori players Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Winnipeg Jets (WHA) players Ice hockey players with retired numbers