Toni Koivisto (born 5 November 1982 in Ylitornio) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. His career spanned 21 seasons and was played in top leagues in Finland, Sweden, and Russia.

Playing career

A native of Ylitornio, in Finnish Lapland, Koivisto moved to Rauma as a teenager in 1998 to play for Lukko, as northern Finland lacked an SM-liiga team at that time. After one year spent with the Lukko junior-A team, Koivisto debuted in the SM-liiga in the 1999–2000 season, although he still split his time between the adult and the junior teams. In 2000, Koivisto appeared in the U18 World Championships and won the gold medal with Team Finland. He also represented Finland in the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

World Junior Championships, coming home with silver and bronze, respectively. After six mediocre seasons with Lukko, Koivisto moved to Tampere to play for Ilves. In his first season there he reached for the first time the 30 points mark, and the 40 points mark in the two following seasons. In 2008, Koivisto returned to the north to play for Oulun Kärpät, the closest major club to Ylitornio, which had been promoted to SM-liiga in his absence. In

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, Koivisto rose to stardom, scoring 62 points in 58 games during both of his two seasons with Kärpät. Koivisto signed a two-year contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on 26 May 2009. In his first season with Metallurg in 2009–10, Koivisto struggled offensively scoring only 19 points in 51 games, he forwent his final year and signed a new two-year contract with

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

of the Swedish

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

(SEL) on 20 May 2010. After scoring only 1 goal in the 2011–12 season's first 17 games, Frölunda and Koivisto decided to split apart on 31 October 2011. He subsequently signed a one-season contract with Luleå HF of the same league (Elitserien) on 6 November 2011, expiring after the end of the 2011–12 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1982 births Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Finnish ice hockey left wingers Florida Panthers draft picks Frölunda HC players Ilves players Living people Lukko players Luleå HF players Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Oulun Kärpät players People from Ylitornio Sportspeople from Lapland (Finland) {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub