Toni Koivisto (born 5 November 1982 in

Ylitornio Ylitornio (; ; ; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Lapland, Finland, Lapland along the Torne (Finnish and Swedish river), Tornio River, opposite the Sweden, Swedish ...

) 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 ...

forward. His career spanned 21 seasons and was played in top leagues in Finland, Sweden, and Russia.

Playing career

A native of

, in

Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...

, Koivisto moved to

Rauma Rauma may refer to: Places * Rauma, Finland, a town and municipality in the Satakunta region of western Finland * Rauma Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Rauma (river), a river in the Romsdalen valley in Møre og Ro ...

as a teenager in 1998 to play for

Lukko Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, Rauma, Finland, best known for its men's professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently pla ...

, as northern Finland lacked an

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

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 year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

World Junior Championships, coming home with silver and bronze, respectively. After six mediocre seasons with Lukko, Koivisto moved to

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 ...

to play for

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of 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 Oulun Kärpät (Finnish language, Finnish for "Oulu Stoat, Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish champion ...

, the closest major club to

, which had been promoted to SM-liiga in his absence. In

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

, 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 Metallurg Magnitogorsk () is a professional ice hockey club based in Magnitogorsk, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club also competed in the Champions Hockey League (2008–09), Champion ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(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 Luleå Hockeyförening, also known as Luleå Hockey, is a professional ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are ...

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 Ice hockey people from Lapland (Finland) 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub