Geoff Platt (born July 10, 1985) is a Canadian–Belarusian 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 for

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at ''Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, wh ...

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 Mesti ...

. He has also played for the

Växjö Lakers The Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) are a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays at the Vida Arena and plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

(SHL), KHL outfit Dinamo Minsk,

Ilves Tampere 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 Finnish Liiga and the

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

and

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confere ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). Born and raised in Canada, Platt played

major junior Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National List of members of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's nationa ...

in the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

before spending several years between the NHL and its minor league affiliate the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL). In 2008 Platt received an offer to join Ilves in Finland, briefly playing in Belarus beforehand. He played in Finland for one season before returning to Minsk the following year, and spent nearly five full seasons with Dinamo before being traded to Lokomotiv in 2013. Platt had previously played for the Canadian national under-18 team, winning a gold medal at the

2003 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2003 IIHF World U18 Championships were held in Yaroslavl, Russia. The championships began on April 8, 2003, and finished on April 18, 2003. Games were played at Arena 2000 and Avtodizel Arena in Yaroslavl. Canada defeated Slovakia 3–0 in the ...

, but in 2012 he acquired Belarusian citizenship, and having satisfied the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF) criteria, was able to represent

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

starting at the

2014 IIHF World Championship The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk, held from 9 to 25 May 2014. Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It was the first time Belarus hosted the tourname ...

held in Minsk.

Playing career

As a youth, Platt played in the 1999

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament () is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, and give an opportunity for international competition to p ...

with a

minor ice hockey Minor ice hockey or minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body c ...

team from

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

. Platt played

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

in the

for the

North Bay Centennials The North Bay Centennials were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, who played from 1982–2002. The team was based in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. History The North Bay Centennials or "Cents" as they were popularly known, were na ...

Saginaw Spirit The Saginaw Spirit are a Junior ice hockey#Major junior, major junior ice hockey team based in Saginaw, Michigan, Saginaw, Michigan. They are members of the West Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the ...

and the

Erie Otters The Erie Otters are a major junior ice hockey team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Midwest division of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of only three American teams in the league. The team's name refers to the North Am ...

. He has played in the NHL with the

and the

. On February 26, 2012, after playing for five years with

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

's (KHL) Dinamo Minsk, Platt accepted Belarusian citizenship. In the 2013–14 season, as leading scorer of Dinamo Minsk in the midst of his 6th season with the club, Platt was traded to

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (, ), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a professional ice hockey club based in Yaroslavl, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The name of the team is derived from its ...

for monetary compensation on December 30, 2013. He was later signed to a two-year contract extension with Lokomotiv through to the 2016 season on January 3, 2014. On August 16, 2015, a few days before the start of the new KHL season,

broke the contract with him. Lokomotiv's general manager explained this by the uncertain legal status of foreign players in KHL (Lokomotiv had signed 6 foreign players including him while the limit of foreign players for the Russian clubs is only 5 players in the roster) and by Geoff's lack of the Russian passport. Two days later he signed a contract with

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. Platt left Moscow upon the conclusion of the 2015–16 campaign and took his game to Sweden, signing with the

of the

(SHL) on June 23, 2016. On December 14, 2016, he returned to CSKA Moscow for a second stint. On May 7, 2019, Platt signed as a free agent to a two-year contract to continue in the KHL with

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg HC Avtomobilist () is a professional ice hockey club based in Yekaterinburg, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club replaced Khimik Voskresensk (2005), Khimik Voskresensk in the KHL in 200 ...

. In the midst of his final year under contract with Avtomobilist in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Platt left the club after collecting six points through 28 games and signed for the remainder of the season with

Salavat Yulaev Ufa Hockey Club Salavat Yulaev (; ), commonly referred as Salavat Yulaev Ufa, is a professional ice hockey club based in Ufa, Russia. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Established in 1957, Salavat Yu ...

on December 21, 2020. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, he elected to leave the team. As a free agent, Platt opted to continue his career by returning to the Finnish

and agreed to a one-year contract with

JYP Jyväskylä JYP is an ice hockey team playing in the Finnish top division Liiga. They play in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the Synergia-areena, LähiTapiola Areena. History JYP was founded in 1923. First it was the ice hockey section of the sports club ''Jyväsk ...

, on July 11, 2022. However, on December 1, he and JYP Jyväskylä agreed to mutually terminate the contract, and then Platt signed with

for the rest of the 2022–23 season.

International play

Platt was a member of the Canadian national under-18 team during the

. He scored three goals in seven games as Canada won the gold medal. After acquiring Belarusian citizenship in 2012 and playing the required amount of time in Belarus, Platt became eligible to represent

in 2014. His first IIHF tournament at which he represented Belarus was the 2014 World Championship, which was held in Minsk. Platt scored three goals and two assists as Belarus finished seventh in the tournament.

Personal life

Platt is married to Finnish native Mia Platt since June 2015. They reside in Tampere, Finland during the off-season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Geoff 1985 births Living people Anaheim Ducks players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies players Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg players Belarusian ice hockey centres Canadian emigrants to Belarus Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian ice hockey centres Columbus Blue Jackets players Erie Otters players HC CSKA Moscow players HC Dinamo Minsk players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen JYP Jyväskylä players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Naturalized citizens of Belarus North Bay Centennials players Portland Pirates players Saginaw Spirit players Salavat Yulaev Ufa players Ice hockey people from Toronto Syracuse Crunch players Tappara players Undrafted National Hockey League players Växjö Lakers players