Tapio Sammalkangas (born March 16, 1980) 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 ...

. Sammalkangas played 671 games in the Finnish Elite League scoring 94 points and 803 penalty minutes. He won the Finnish Championship with the Porin Ässät in 2013 and Tappara in 2017. He was known as a defensive defenceman.

Early life

Tapio Sammalkangas was born 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 on 16 March 1980. His father, Timo, played ice hockey as a junior with Ilves and in Sweden's lower divisions.

Career

Junior

Tapio Sammalkangas started ice hockey in the

Tampereen Ilves 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 ...

as a four-year old. He played as a forward until the age of ten. Sammalkangas won the U18 bronze medal with Ilves in 1997 and U20 silver in 1999.

Professional (1998–2017)

Sammalkangas made his professional debut with Ilves in the 1998 SM-liiga playoffs. He played three games with no points. Ilves lost the

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja, or Poika (Literally "''Boy''" or "''Son''"), is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish SM-liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish language, Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is s ...

finals to

IFK Helsingfors 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 ...

. The 1999–2000 season was his actual rookie season in the SM-liiga. He played 47 regular season games with Ilves, scoring three points and 56 penalty minutes. Sammalkangas joined the

Porin Ässät Porin Ässät ry is a sports club based in Pori, Finland. The club's only programs are ice hockey and esports, but it used to have an association football program. Porin Ässät ry operates an ice hockey team in the Finnish Elite League. Porin ...

for the 2006–07 season. He won the

championship with the club in 2013 and served as

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

from 2011 to 2015. He played the 2016–17 season 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 ...

and won the championship. He retired after the season. In total, Sammalkangas played eleven seasons with the Porin Ässät.

Career statistics

References

External links

* Living people Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) players Ilves players Tappara players Fresno Falcons players AaB Ishockey players 1980 births Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Tampere 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub