Aarne Väinö Edvard Honkavaara (June 7, 1924 – March 22, 2016) was a Finnish

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 ...

player and coach. He was born in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland.

Playing career

Honkavaara played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old. The team which he represented was Tampereen Kisa-Veikot. He participated in the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

between 1942 and 1944 and played his first actual

SM-sarja SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for ''Suomen mestaruussarja'', "Finnish Championship Series". There was variable number of teams playing for the Finnish championship dur ...

game in 1944 against HSK. He played for

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

, which was along with TBK, one of

's top teams. He played his entire career for Ilves except for a short visit to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, where he played in two exhibition games for

Sarnia Sailors The Sarnia Sailors are a defunct Canadian semi-professional and amateur senior ice hockey team. The team played in the City of Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,0 ...

. His playing career ended in 1953 when he broke his shin after a Polish player fell onto it during a national team game between Finland and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. After retiring, he made a two-season return to playing staff, while he was the head coach for Ilves in 1956. He re-retired in 1958 after a single game during his second season after comeback.

International play

Honkavaara was part of Finland national team and played 47 games for them, scoring 46 goals. He was also team captain of the national team during their first participation at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

Coaching career

After retiring as a full-time player, Honkavaara went on to coach Ilves to three Finnish championships and one silver medal. He was also the head coach for the Finland national team between 1954 and 1959.

Museum founder

When the

Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame The Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame is housed in and administered by the ('Finnish Ice Hockey Museum'), a part of the Vapriikki Museum Centre, in Tampere, Finland. The mission of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame is to record, document, and exhibit ...

was established on June 14, 1979, Honkavaara was one of its founding members and later served as its chairperson from 1983 to 1996.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

Bibliography

* Dynamo, (Book in Finnish)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Honkavaara, Aarne 1924 births 2016 deaths Finland men's national ice hockey team coaches Finnish ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Tampere Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players with retired numbers Ilves players Olympic ice hockey players for Finland