Kari Maurits Takko (born 23 June 1962) 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 h ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He played in the

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 ...

between 1986 and 1991, and in the Finnish

SM-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 ...

between 1979 and 1985, and again from 1991 to 1997. Internationally Takko played for the Finnish national team at several tournaments, including the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

. He currently works for

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 ...

as an assistant to the sports manager. Takko is also the Director of European Scouting for the Dallas Stars.

Playing career

Takko played six seasons in the NHL, serving as a backup to

Don Beaupre Donald William Beaupre (born September 19, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 17 seasons with the Minnesota North Stars, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators, and Toro ...

Jon Casey Jonathon James Casey (born March 29, 1962) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars, Boston Bruins, and St. Louis Blues from 1984 to 1997. Early life Jon Case ...

and

Bill Ranford William Edward Ranford (born December 14, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and current goaltending coach for the Los Angeles Kings. He was selected in the third round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, 52nd overall, by the B ...

. He was selected in the tenth round of the

1981 NHL Entry Draft 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 ...

, 200th overall, by the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

, but was unable to come to contract terms. He re-entered the

1984 NHL Entry Draft The 1984 NHL Entry Draft was the 22nd NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 9, 1984, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The 1984 Entry Draft is noted for the unusually high number of future Hall of Famers picked, particularly in lowe ...

and was this time drafted by the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

. Takko started his

career in Ässät during the 1978–79 season, and played there for seven seasons (1978–1985). Takko went to the NHL after the 1984–85 season. He was signed by the Minnesota North Stars, and played with them for a total of six seasons (1985–1991). During the 1990–91 season Takko was traded to the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

for Bruce Bell, making it the "Takko Bell Trade", a play on the fast food restaurant chain. Takko played for the rest of his NHL career in Edmonton. After retiring from NHL play, he played nine more seasons in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

representing Ässät (1991–1996) in the SM-liiga, and

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

(1997–2000) in the Elitserien. Takko retired from playing after the 1999–2000 season. Takko also played internationally for

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, appearing for their national team a total of 104 times. He is currently the Director of European Scouting for the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

* Silver medal at the World Junior Championships in 1981. * Bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in 1982. * Named Best Goalie of

in 1985 and 1994.

References

External links

*
HockeyGoalies entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takko, Kari 1962 births Living people Ässät players Dallas Stars scouts Edmonton Oilers players Finnish ice hockey goaltenders HV71 players Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Minnesota North Stars draft picks Minnesota North Stars players Olympic ice hockey players of Finland People from Uusikaupunki Quebec Nordiques draft picks Springfield Indians players Sportspeople from Southwest Finland