Matias Sointu (born February 10, 1990) 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 is currently playing with

Cracovia Krakow {{Short description, Sports club based in Kraków Cracovia is a multi-sports club in Kraków, Poland. Its teams include: * MKS Cracovia (football) * Cracovia (handball) * MKS Cracovia (ice hockey) MKS Cracovia SSA, commonly referred to as Cracov ...

in the

Polska Hokej Liga The Polska Hokej Liga is the premier ice hockey league in Poland. Previously, it was known as the I Liga or Ekstraklasa from 1926 to 1999, and the Polska Liga Hokejowa from 1999 to 2013. In 2013, it was reorganized as a limited liability company ...

. Sointu was selected by the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

in the 7th round (182nd overall) of the

2008 NHL Entry Draft The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was the 46th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, but because of ...

. Sointu made his

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 ...

debut playing with

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the ci ...

during the

2010–11 SM-liiga season The 2010–11 SM-liiga season was the 36th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by HIFK who defeated Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM ...

. In the 2018–19 season, just his second year outside of Finland, Sointu played in the

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system (after the SHL). Since the 2009–10 season, the league consists of fourteen teams ...

with

IK Oskarshamn IK Oskarshamn is an ice hockey club from Oskarshamn Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010. History Etymology Döderhultsvik was the original name before ...

. He posted 9 points in 29 games before elevating his play with 7 points in 11 games in the post-season to help Oskarshamn gain promotion to the top tier SHL. He left the club at the conclusion of his contract as a free agent. In August 2019, Sointu signed a short-term deal with UK

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hocke ...

side

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils are a Welsh ice hockey team who play in the British Elite Ice Hockey League. The team play at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff are the reigning EIHL play-off champions, winning their third title in a row after beatin ...

as injury cover for Joey Martin. After playing nine league games, he was released in November. He later spent time with Austrian side

Dornbirner EC Dornbirn Bulldogs is a professional ice hockey team in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria, who formerly played in the Austrian Hockey League (IceHL), the first level of ice hockey in Austria, since 2012. until 2022. The club was founded in 1992 and i ...

, before returning to Finland to join

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. ...

. Sointu then returned to Austria in December 2020 to sign for Austrian

IceHL The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

side

Graz 99ers The Moser Medical Graz 99ers are an Austrian professional ice hockey team from Graz, Styria. The club was founded in 1999 after the previous club, EHC Graz, folded prior to the 1998–99 season due to financial difficulties. The Graz99ers starte ...

. On February 25, 2021, Sointu joined

HC La Chaux-de-Fonds HC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various g ...

of the

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, t ...

as a replacement for injured Tim Coffman for the remainder of the season. In October 2021, Sointu returned to the UK

to sign for the

Sheffield Steelers The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League. ...

, joining as the roster replacement for

Travis Oleksuk Travis Oleksuk (born February 3, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He is currently playing with Starbulls Rosenheim in the German Oberliga. Oleksuk most recently iced with EC VSV in the Austrian IceHL. Prior to that, Oleksuk ...

. In August 2022, Sointu joined fellow Sheffield players

Vojtěch Polák Vojtěch Polák (born June 27, 1985 in Ostrov) is a Czech professional ice hockey left wing who is currently playing with Cracovia Krakow in the Polska Hokej Liga. Polak most recently iced with Sheffield Steelers of the UK Elite Ice Hockey Lea ...

and Rok Stojanovic in moving to Polish club

References

External links