Simo Olavi Saarinen (born February 14, 1963 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland) is a retired 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 ...

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

Playing career

Simo Saarinen started his career in his hometown team Helsingin IFK. Saarinen played once in the European Junior Ice Hockey Championships and twice in the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and was soon noticed by NHL scouts. Saarinen was drafted by

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. After 1984 Olympic Ice Hockey tournament Saarinen went to NHL. Saarinen was injured during his debut season for

. Due to the injuries Saarinen did not play in the 1985–86 season and returned 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 ...

for 1986–87 season. Saarinen played for

until 1996 when he finally retired from active playing.

After retirement

After retiring in 1996 Saarinen started to referee ice hockey games in Finland. Saarinen refereed his first

SM-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 ...

games in the 2001–2002 SM-Liiga season. Currently Saarinen referees hockey games in

and Southern Finland area.

International play

For

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

Saarinen played twice in

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annu ...

and three times in Olympic Hockey Tournament. Saarinen was part of the historic

Ice Hockey at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less op ...

Ice Hockey Team which won Finland's first international tournament medal, a silver one.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saarinen, Simo 1963 births Finnish ice hockey defencemen HIFK (ice hockey) players Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players with retired numbers Living people New Haven Nighthawks players New York Rangers draft picks New York Rangers players Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Ice hockey people from Helsinki Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics