Juha Leimu (born January 30, 1983, 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 Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) is a Finnish former 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

Playing career

Leimu made his SM-liiga debut in 2009–10 when he was offered an eight-game trial period with

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 ...

having spent the start of the season in Lempäälän Kisa. After the tryout his contract was extended for the rest of the season. Leimu recorded 24 points in 36 games and was awarded a three-year extension in May 2010. In 2010–11 Leimu had his career season with 12 goals and 31 points in 50 games. After his contract with Tappara expired, Pelicans signed Leimu to a two-year contract on April 26, 2013. During his opening season in

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

Leimu led all Pelicans defencemen in goals scored with 10. In the 2013–14 playoffs Leimu scored the overtime goal in Game 2 that eliminated

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

in the opening round. Prior the 2014–15 season Leimu was named the team captain. Leimu was sidelined on multiple occasions during the season due to injuries and recorded 16 points in 40 games. On November 20, 2014, he signed a two-year contract extension with Pelicans. Leimu holds the

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 ...

record for the fastest hat-trick after scoring three power-play goals in just 44 seconds in a 5–6 overtime loss against

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 December 15, 2015. Leimu's 16 goals in 2015–16 season were a league high for defensemen. Leimu played for Finland national team in a friendly games against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in 2011.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1983 births Living people Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ilves players KOOVEE players Lahti Pelicans players Lempäälän Kisa players Ice hockey people from Tampere Tappara players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub