Juha Riihijärvi

Juha Riihijärvi
Born (1969-12-15) 15 December 1969
Keminmaa, FIN
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 203 lb (92 kg; 14 st 7 lb)
Position Left Winger
Shot Right
Serie A team
Former teams
Bolzano-Bozen Foxes
Oddset Ligaen
Rødovre Mighty Bulls
SM-liiga
Kärpät
JyP-HT
Lukko
Elitserien
Malmö IF
Nationalliga A
HC Ambri-Piotta
Nationalliga B
EHC Basel
IHL
Cape Breton Oilers
NHL Draft 254th overall, 1991
Edmonton Oilers
Playing career 19872010

Juha Riihijärvi (born 15 December 1969 in Keminmaa, Finland) is a former professional ice hockey left winger who played his last season for Bolzano-Bozen Foxes in Italian Serie A.

Playing career

Career in Finland

Juha Riihijärvi played 4 seasons for Kärpät which is a team based in Oulu, Finland. After Kärpät, Riihijärvi played 2 seasons for JYP, where he won one bronze and one silver during his time with the Jyväskylä team.

Short visit to North America

Riihijärvi was drafted to National Hockey League by Edmonton Oilers in 1991 and was part of the Oilers organization for one season, 1993–94.

Riihijärvi did not get a chance in the NHL and settled playing for Oilers-affiliate, Cape Breton Oilers in the IHL for the whole season. Riihijärvi scored 25 points in 57 games for Cape Breton.

Return to Finland

After his short-lived NHL-attempt, Riihijärvi returned to Finland and played two seasons for Lukko. During his second season in Rauma, Riihijärvi won the goalscoring, pointscoring and MVP trophies while Lukko won Bronze, making it the third medal for Riihijärvi in SM-liiga.

Career in Sweden

After his good 1995/96 season in Lukko, Riihijärvi moved to Sweden and started to play for Malmö IF in the Elitserien. Riihijärvi would go on and establish himself as one of the franchise names for the Malmö team as he played a total of 470 games for the Redhawks in 7 seasons.

Visit to Switzerland

Riihijärvi played the 2004/05 season in Switzerland and his teams were HC Ambri-Piotta in the Nationalliga A and EHC Basel in Nationalliga B.

Final seasons in Sweden

Riihijärvi returned to Sweden after he played the season in Switzerland and played two more seasons for Malmö IF.

Riihijärvi and Malmö Redhawks gained promotion from HockeyAllsvenskan to Elitserien in 2006, but were again in Relegation series in 2007.

Move to Denmark

For 2007/08 season, Riihijärvi was contracted to Danish Oddset Ligaen-team Rødovre Mighty Bulls. After playing for Bolzano-Bozen Foxes during season 2009/2010, Rihijärvi retired from hockey.

Eliteprospects - Riihijärvi classified as retired

International career

Juha Riihijärvi
Medal record
Competitor for FinlandFinland
Men's ice hockey
World Championships
1992 Czechoslovakia Ice hockey

Riihijärvi has played for Finnish national team in 133 games.

Riihijärvi's international highlight came in 1992 World Championship tournament where he was part of the team which won Finland's first World Championship-medal, a silver one.

Riihijärvi also played in 1993 and 1996 tournaments but Finland did not get any medals from them. Riihijärvi's latest international call-up's are from 2000, when he played in the Euro Hockey Tour.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1987–88 Kärpät SM-liiga 1 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1987–88 Kärpät Jrs. A-Juniors SM-liiga 36 26 18 44 28 4 0 2 2 0
1988–89 Kärpät Sm-liiga 44 11 23 34 22 -- -- -- -- --
1988–89 Kärpät SM-liiga Qual. 5 3 5 8 4 -- -- -- -- --
1988–89 Kärpät Jrs. A-Juniors SM-liiga 1 3 3 6 0 -- -- -- -- --
1989–90 Kärpät 1. Divisioona 44 38 45 83 32 -- -- -- -- --
1989–90 Kärpät Jrs. A-Juniors SM-liiga 1 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 Kärpät 1. Divisioona 42 29 41 70 34 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 Kärpät SM-liiga Qual. 4 2 3 5 6 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 JyP-HT SM-liiga 38 29 33 62 37 10 4 4 8 10
1992–93 JyP-HT SM-liiga 41 25 31 56 38 9 4 2 6 2
1993–94 Cape Breton Oilers AHL 57 10 15 25 37 -- -- -- -- --
1994–95 Lukko SM-liiga 32 14 26 40 20 9 2 6 8 4
1995–96 Lukko SM-liiga 50 28 44 72 58 8 3 6 9 4
1996–97 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 49 27 24 51 28 4 1 0 1 8
1997–98 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 45 14 25 39 26 -- -- -- -- --
1998–99 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 37 13 15 28 24 8 5 6 11 6
1999–00 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 48 20 36 56 26 6 0 3 3 12
2000–01 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 50 22 31 53 26 9 4 6 10 16
2001–02 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 50 20 17 37 14 3 1 1 2 0
2002–03 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 50 14 28 42 10 -- -- -- -- --
2003–04 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 50 13 22 35 32 -- -- -- -- --
2003–04 Malmö Redhawks SuperAllsvenskan -- -- -- -- -- 10 6 4 10 8
2004–05 HC Ambri-Piotta Nationalliga A 2 0 1 1 0 -- -- -- -- --
2004–05 EHC Basel Nationalliga B 30 22 20 42 22 10 10 10 20 6
2005–06 Malmö Redhawks HockeyAllsvenskan 41 13 26 39 28 10 4 7 11 10
2006–07 Malmö Redhawks Elitserien 51 11 14 25 18 -- -- -- -- --
2006–07 Malmö Redhawks HockeyAllsvenskan -- -- -- -- -- 10 3 7 10 4
2007–08 Rødovre Mighty Bulls Oddset Ligaen 43 22 36 58 28 7 3 4 7 6
2008-09 Vienna Capitals EBEL 47 28 29 57 16 10 2 2 4 8
2009-10 Bolzano-Bozen Foxes Serie A 31 11 16 27 14 8 2 5 7 2
SM-liiga totals 206 107 157 264 175 36 13 18 31 20
Elitserien totals 430 154 212 366 204 30 11 16 27 42

References

Preceded by
Mikko Mäkelä
Winner of the Kultainen kypärä
1992–93
Succeeded by
Esa Keskinen
Preceded by
Saku Koivu
Winner of the Kultainen kypärä
1995–96
Succeeded by
Kimmo Rintanen
Preceded by
Kai Nurminen
Winner of the Aarne Honkavaara trophy
1995–96
Succeeded by
Petri Varis
Preceded by
Saku Koivu
Winner of the Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy
1995–96
Succeeded by
Petri Varis
Preceded by
Saku Koivu
Winner of the Lasse Oksanen trophy
1995–96
Succeeded by
Jani Hurme
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, July 10, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.