Juha Pekka Kaunismäki (born 6 May 1979 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

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-born Norwegian professional

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 ...

, who currently plays with

Stavanger Oilers Stavanger Ishockeyklubb, commonly referred to as the Stavanger Oilers, is a Norwegian professional ice hockey team based in Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the Fjordkraftligaen, which is the top division in Norwegian ice hockey. As o ...

of the Norway's elite

GET-ligaen EliteHockey Ligaen (EHL) is the premier Norwegian ice hockey league, organised by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association. It comprises 10 clubs and works on the premise of promotion and relegation, in which the two teams who placed last must play ...

Career

Kaunismäki began playing in Finland with the

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 ...

organization's junior teams. He later played for Kiekko-Vantaa of the third-level

Suomi-sarja The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 14 teams. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999–2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provi ...

and the second-level

Mestis Mestis (from , meaning 'Championship series', stylized as MEST1S) is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division ...

. Kaunismäki played a total of five seasons in Mestis league, two with Kiekko-Vantaa and three with Ahmat Hyvinkää. In 2003 he joined Stavanger of the Norwegian league.

International career

Kaunismäki was selected to play for the

Norway men's national ice hockey team The Norway men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team from Norway that participates at the IIHF World Championships. The team is governed by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association and is coached by Petter Thoresen (ice hockey), ...

at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. He previously represented Norway at 2008 and 2009

World Ice Hockey 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. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

after changing his citizenship.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* 1979 births Living people Finnish emigrants to Norway Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Jokerit players Kiekko-Vantaa players Norwegian ice hockey players Olympic ice hockey players for Norway Ice hockey people from Helsinki Stavanger Oilers players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Norway-icehockey-bio-stub