Erik Vesa Hämäläinen (born April 20, 1965 in

Rauma, Finland Rauma (; ) is a town in Finland, on the western coast of the country. Rauma is in the Satakunta region, by the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Rauma is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most p ...

) is a left-handed retired Finnish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. Hämäläinen currently is an Ice hockey coach, employed by SM-liiga team

Lukko Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, 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 pla ...

Playing career

Early career

Erik Hämäläinen started his professional career with his hometown team, Rauman

, which played in the Finnish

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

. He debuted during the 1982–1983 Season. Lukko was demoted from SM-liiga after the 82–83 season, but gained promotion by winning the I-Divisioona in 1984. Hämäläinen played for six seasons (1982–1988) in Lukko. His last was cut short when an injury sidelined him for most of the season. In 1989, Hämäläinen moved to Kuopio and started to play for

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

. He stayed with KalPa for four Seasons (1989–1992) before transferring to Helsingin

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

in 1992. During his three-year stint with Jokerit, he won a gold and silver medal to accompany his two silver medals from KalPa and Lukko. He also won the European bronze medal during his first season with Jokerit.

World Championship victory and move to Sweden

After winning the 1995 World Championships with Finland, Hämäläinen was acquired by AIK. He played with the Swedish team for three seasons (1995–1998). He returned to his old team of Rauman Lukko in 1998. During his three seasons with Lukko, he played twice in the playoffs, but the team failed to get a place in the finals.

To Switzerland

During the 2000–2001 season, Hämäläinen moved to play for

SC Langnau The SC Langnau Tigers are a professional ice hockey team from Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL). The team plays its home games in the 6,050-seat Emmental Versicherung Arena, which is currently one of the sma ...

, a Swiss team. After a disappointing season in Switzerland, he returned again to Rauma Lukko.

Late career and retirement

During the 2005–2006 season, he broke the record for most SM-liiga games played with his 865th game; the previous record was held by Pertti Lehtonen. Hämäläinen's record was broken 18 February 2012 when Jan Latvala played his 1002nd game. Hämäläinen played his last season during the 2007-08 SM-liiga season. Hämäläinen played his 1000th SM-liiga career game and after the season ended he announced his retirement from playing

Coaching career

Shortly after his announcement regarding his retirement, Hämäläinen was contracted to a 2+2 year contract by Lukko. Hämäläinen will start as an Assistant Coach for Lukko in the beginning of 2008–2009 SM-liiga season.

International play

Hämäläinen has played 108 games for Finland's national ice hockey team. He participated in four World Championship Tournaments (1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995), winning one gold medal (1995), two silver medals (1992, 1994). He was also part of the 1994 Olympic ice hockey team in Lillehammer, where the team won the bronze medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamalainen, Erik 1965 births AIK IF players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Finnish ice hockey defencemen Finnish ice hockey world championship gold medalists Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Jokerit players KalPa players Living people Lukko players Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ice hockey people from Rauma, Finland