Eero Olavi Saari (18 September 1928 – 29 April 2023) was a Finnish professional

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 who played with the

Tampereen Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was the ...

of the

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

and with the Finnish national team. He represented Finland at the

1951 Ice Hockey World Championships The 1951 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 18th World Championship and the 29th European Championship in ice hockey for international teams. The tournament took place in France from 9 to 17 March and the games were played in the capital cit ...

and in the ice hockey tournament at the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, were a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting ...

. Saari was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Finland in 1994. He was named an Ilves Hockey Legend in a ceremony held on 7 March 2020. He is remembered as the first player on the Finnish national team to score a goal against

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 ...

. Saari died in Tampere on 29 April 2023, at the age of 94.

References

External links

* * 1928 births 2023 deaths Finnish ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Tampere Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Ilves players Olympic ice hockey players for Finland {{Finland-icehockey-player-stub