Roope Talaja (born August 2, 1988) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He currently plays for

Porin Ässät Porin may refer to: * Porin (protein), a transmembrane protein * ''Porin'' (opera), a Croatian grand opera, first performed in 1897 * Porin (music award) Porin is a Croatian music award founded by Croatian Phonographic Association, Croatian Mus ...

in the Finnish

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. Talaja has played as a junior for the Blues, before making his professional debut in the

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division'). ...

with

Kiekko-Vantaa Kiekko-Vantaa is an ice hockey team from Vantaa, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home games in Trio Areena. Kiekko-Vantaa has been in Mestis since the league started in 2000 and have been in the finals twice, losing both times. ...

. After making his debut on loan to

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 2009–10 season, he returned to the Blues to play in his first full SM-liiga season. On May 3, 2012, Talaja agree to a two-year contract with HIFK. After an unproductive second season with HIFK in 2013–14, in which he totaled just two goals in 31 games, Talaja made a third return to the Espoo Blues in agreeing to a two-year contract on April 4, 2014.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1988 births Living people Espoo Blues players HIFK (ice hockey) players Kiekko-Vantaa players Mikkelin Jukurit players Finnish ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey people from Kuopio Ice hockey people from North Savo Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) players {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub