Kari Heikkilä

Kari Heikkilä ( born January 10, 1960 in Kangasala ) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey player and coach who played in the Elitserien, among others, for Ilves Tampere of the SM - liiga in and Luleå HF in its active period from 1979 to 1994. Since 2011 he has been head coach of the Belarusian national team.

Career

Kari Heikkilä began his career as a hockey player with Ilves Tampere, for the to 1983 he was active from 1979 in the SM- liiga. Then the defender moved before the season 1983/84 to Luleå HF in the Division 1, the second highest Swedish Hockey League. With the Swedes he achieved in the first year the rise in the Elitserien, where Heikkilä spent another two seasons with the team. In 1986, Heikkilä returned to his Finnish homeland, where he spent three years as active for his former club Ilves Tampere. From 1989 to 1991 the Finn for the HC Vita Hästen stood again in the second Swedish league on the ice before he played in the 1991/92 season once again for Tampere in Finland. Finally, he ended his active career in the Italian Serie A, where he stood until 1994 at SHC Fassa under contract.

Immediately after the end of his career took Heikkilä 1994 the Swedish second division side IF Sundsvall Hockey as a coach, where he stayed for two years. There was a season in their domestic rivals bottom IK. For the 1997/98 season Heikkilä returned to Finland, where he coached the first division HPK Hämeenlinna, in which he has already been fired shortly after the season starts. After a two-year commitment to Vaasan Sport in the second class I Divisioona the former defender received in the summer of 2000, another chance for a first division to be active. With Kärpät Oulu, he was in the following four seasons in 2003 and 2004 runner- Finnish Champion. For the latter, success Heikkilä also received the Kalevi Numminen - Trophy as the best coach of the season.

In the 2004/05 season coached Heikkilä Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Super League. After just one season the Espoo Blues he joined from the SM- liiga, for which he worked until 2007. Subsequently, he received a new contract in Yaroslavl. With the Russians it was in season 2007/ 08 Russian runner-up and stood at the end of the 2008 /09 again with the team in the final series for the championship, but failed there again on later masterpieces. In February 2010, he was released in Yaroslavl.

In the 2010/11 season Heikkilä was head coach of HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, reaching with this, the playoff semifinals. In August 2011 he signed a three-year contract with the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation and has been coach of Belarus. From April 2012, he was head coach of the parallel HC Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, but was released in October 2012 due to Erfolgslosigkeit.

Elitserien Statistics

Awards and achievements

As a coach

• 2003 Finnish runner with Kärpät Oulu
• 2004 Finnish Champion with Kärpät Oulu
• 2004 Kalevi Numminen trophy -

• 2008 Russian runner with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
• 2009 Assistant coach at KHL All-Star Game
• 2009 Russian runner with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl