Vili Sopanen (born October 21, 1987) 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 ...

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. He last played for

Lukko Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, best known for its men’s professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently plays in the Fin ...

in 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 ...

. He was drafted by the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

, 177th overall, in the

2007 NHL Entry Draft The 2007 NHL Entry Draft was the 45th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted at Nationwide Arena in the city of Columbus, Ohio, on June 22, 2007. The draft consisted of seven rounds with rounds two through seven taking place on June 23, 2007. The draft ...

. Sopanen has previously played in the top tier Finnish Liiga with

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. Founded in 1996, they play in the city of Lahti at Isku Arena. The team is co-owned by (among others) former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Pasi Nurminen ...

JYP Jyväskylä JYP is an ice hockey team playing in the Finnish top division Liiga. They play in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the LähiTapiola Areena. History JYP was founded in 1923. First it was the ice hockey section of the sports club ''Jyväskylän Palloilija ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

On June 11, 2018, Sopanen left his native Finland for the second time through his 12 year professional career, agreeing to a one-year deal with German outfit,

ERC Ingolstadt ERC Ingolstadt (''Eishockey-und-Rollschuh club'', ) is a German professional ice hockey club that plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Commonly known as the Panthers, the team plays its home games at the Saturn Arena in Ingolstadt. History ...

of the DEL. During the 2018–19 season, Sopanen played in 14 games with Ingolstadt before transferring to

Schwenninger Wild Wings The Schwenninger Wild Wings are a professional German ice hockey team from Schwenningen am Neckar in Baden-Wuerttemberg that was founded on 31 July 1904 and currently plays in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The greatest success of the associ ...

. Sopanen played a further 17 games for 7 points in the DEL before leaving to return to his native Finland, agreeing to an optional three-year deal with Lukko of the Liiga on February 3, 2019.

References

External links

* 1987 births Living people People from Valkeala HIFK (ice hockey) players ERC Ingolstadt players JYP Jyväskylä players Lahti Pelicans players Lukko players Luleå HF players New Jersey Devils draft picks Schwenninger Wild Wings players Finnish ice hockey right wingers Sportspeople from Kymenlaakso {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub