Tuomas Sakari Tarkki (born 28 February 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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

and the goaltending coach of the Finnish women's national team. He played

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and professionally in the Finnish

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 Mesti ...

, the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL), the Swedish Elitserien, 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), the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga () is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created in 1993 following the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia midway through the 1992–93 Czechoslovak Extraliga season (which all Slovak and ...

, and the Danish

Metal Ligaen The Superisligaen, known as the Metal Ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level ice hockey league in Denmark. The league consists of 9 professional teams. Teams from the Superisligaen can participate in the IIHF's annual Champions Ho ...

Playing career

After playing his

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

career with

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 ...

, including three

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 ...

games as a backup, Tarkki studied at the

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designa ...

and played four years of college hockey with the

Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey The Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I college ice hockey program that represents Northern Michigan University (NMU). The Wildcats are a member of ...

program. In the 2004–05 season, he was an AHCA All-America selection and was named both the CCHA Player of the Year and CCHA Goaltender of the Year in 2005. After college, he spent a year in the North American minor leagues before returning to Finland to replace the injured Andy Chiodo as the Kärpät starting goaltender. On 9 December 2006, Tarkki made SM-liiga history by facing his younger brother, Iiro Tarkki, who was in goal for

SaiPa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

. This was the first time in the league that two brothers had played against each other in goal. Tuomas made 31 saves and registered a shutout while Iiro, five years his junior, allowed four goals on 20 shots.

International play

Tarkki made his debut with the Finnish national team on 15 December 2007, in the Channel One Cup on the

Euro Hockey Tour The Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) is an annual ice hockey tournament open to only the national men's teams of the Czech national ice hockey team, Czech Republic, Finnish national men's ice hockey team, Finland, Switzerland men's national ice hockey tea ...

, playing one game against the . Tarkki had a dismal game, allowing five goals on 23 shots.

Personal life

Tarkki is married to former Finnish women's national team defenseman Saija Tarkki ().

Career statistics

Regular season

International

Awards and achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarkki, Tuomas 1980 births Living people BK Mladá Boleslav players Finnish ice hockey goaltenders Chicago Wolves players Gwinnett Gladiators players HC Benátky nad Jizerou players Hokki players JYP Jyväskylä players Lukko players Modo Hockey players HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk players Northern Michigan Wildcats men's ice hockey players Northern Michigan University alumni Oulun Kärpät players Ice hockey people from Rauma, Finland Rungsted Seier Capital players Naisten Liiga (ice hockey) coaches AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Finnish ice hockey coaches 21st-century Finnish sportsmen