Hannu Rainer Järvenpää (born May 19, 1963 in Ii,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a 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 ...

coach and a retired professional

player. He is the current Head Coach of

HC Gherdëina Hockey Club Gherdëina, also known as HC Gardena, currently named HC Gherdeina valgardena.it due to sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Alps Hockey League, having formerly played in the top division ...

, an Italian team playing in the Alps Hockey League. Järvenpää played 114 games for the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

and is a member of the Finnish ice hockey Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Järvenpää played for Kärpät in Finland's top-flight

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 Mesti ...

in the early- and mid-1980s. From 1986 to 1989, he played 114 games for the

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). He then returned to Finland and joined

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 ...

in 1989, where he spent two years. The 1991–92 season saw him skate for

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, Swedish Hockey League (SHL), after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus ...

in Sweden. After wearing

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 ...

colours in 1992–93, he moved to fellow Liiga team

Espoo Blues Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they were promoted for the 2024–25 Liiga season, 20 ...

, where he spent the last two years of his playing career. Järvenpää represented Finland's national team on several occasions, including the 1992 Olympic Games and the World Championships in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991 and 1992 (silver medal).

Coaching career

He served as assistant coach of

team

SaiPa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

from 2003 to 2005 followed by a one-year stint with fellow Liiga outfit

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga, Finland. 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 ...

in the same position. Järvenpää took over head coaching duties at

HDD Olimpija Ljubljana Hokejsko drsalno društvo Olimpija Ljubljana, commonly referred to as HDD Olimpija or simply Olimpija, was a Slovenian professional ice hockey club from Ljubljana. They played their home games at the Tivoli Hall. Olimpija has won 13 Yugoslav Ice ...

, a Slovenian member of the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

(EBEL), in 2009 and remained in that job until 2012. He then served as head coach of fellow EBEL team EV VSV from 2012 to November 2015, when he was sacked. In early January 2016, he was named head coach of

Alba Volán Székesfehérvár ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingd ...

and parted ways with the EBEL team at the end of the 2015–16 season. In May 2016, he was named head coach of

Lausitzer Füchse The Lausitzer Füchse (literally ''Lusatian Foxes''; ) is an ice hockey team based in Weißwasser, Saxony. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to the 2013–14 season they played in the 2nd Bundesliga. ...

of the German second division

DEL2 DEL2 (also known as Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2 or DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Se ...

. He was presented with DEL2 Coach of the Year honors in the 2016–17 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvenpaa, Hannu 1963 births Living people Espoo Blues players Finnish ice hockey coaches Finnish ice hockey right wingers Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Jokerit players Leksands IF players Lukko players Moncton Hawks players Montreal Canadiens draft picks Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Oulun Kärpät players People from Ii Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players Ice hockey people from North Ostrobothnia