Reijo Leppänen
Reijo Leppänen ( born November 8, 1951 in Turku ) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey player who played in the SM- liiga, among others, for TPS Turku in its active between 1968 and 1990.
Career
Reijo Leppänen began his career as a hockey player in his hometown in the junior department of TuTo Hockey, for the first team to 1975 he was active from 1968 in the SM- sarja. He then moved to the city neighbors TPS Turku, for he 1975-1987 for twelve years in the newly established highest Finnish league, the SM- liiga, took. With TPS Turku he took in each of those seasons participate in the playoffs and he helped to lead the club into the national top. With his team he won the Finnish championship title in the 1975/76 season. In the following season he failed with TPS until the playoff finals at Tappara Tampere. Even in the seasons 1981/82 and 1984/85 he was with TPS runner-up.
However, Reijo Leppänen was successful not only with his team, but belonged in the 1980s, even to the best Finnish offensive players. In the years 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1985, he was selected in each case in the All-Star team of the SM- liiga. In the 1980/81 season he had in addition to the best plus / minus balance of all SM- liiga player, for which he received the Matti - Keinonen trophy. In the same season he was top scorer with 76 points scorer in the league, for which he received the Veli -Pekka Ketola - trophy, and with 45 assists best assist provider. Upon reaching the runner-up in 1982, he was with 33 goals and 37 Assists (70 points scorer ), both leading scorer, assist provider and scorer of the SM - liiga. In addition, he was named SM- liiga key player and received the SM- liiga Lynces Academici Forward Award. Upon reaching the runner-up in 1985, he received the Raimo - Kilpiö Trophy as the fairest player.
His career was the Olympic participants from 1980 who played in his career until then exclusively for teams from his hometown, end with Kiekko -67. With the team he joined in 1989 in the second class I divisioona and ended a year later, his career there. Two years later he was admitted as a total of 87 players in the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.
Internationally
For Leppänen Finland took part in the junior level at the Under-19 European Junior Championships in 1970. In the senior level, he stood in the squad of his country at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and in the World Cup 1982.