Janne Laakkonen

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Janne Laakkonen
Born (1982-04-15) April 15, 1982 (age 42)
Kuopio, Finland
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
Mestis team
Former teams
FPS
KalPa
HPK
Timrå IK
HIFK
Lempäälän Kisa
Ilves
IF Sundsvall Hockey
Arystan Temirtau
Yuzhny Ural Orsk
Kulager Petropavl
Neman Grodno
Gothiques d'Amiens
GKS Katowice
EHC Lustenau
Narvik IK
Coventry Blaze
Fife Flyers
Playing career 2000–present

Janne Laakkonen (born April 15, 1982) is a Finnish professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for FPS in the Finnish Mestis. Laakkonen most recently iced with Elite League side Fife Flyers, and was previously with Coventry Blaze.

Career[edit]

Laakkonen began his career with KalPa, playing for their junior teams before making his debut for the main roster during the 2000-01 Suomi-sarja playoffs. He then moved to SM-liiga team HPK and stayed for four seasons. He had a brief spell in Sweden's Elitserien for Timrå IK in 2005-06, playing six games and only registering one assist before moving back to Finland with HIFK.

In 2008, Laakkonen returned to HPK for a second spell. In 2010 he returned to KalPa for a second spell for one season before moving back to HPK in 2011 for a third spell with the team. For the 2012-13 season, he had spells in Mestis with Lempäälän Kisa and in the SM-liiga with Ilves before returning to Sweden with IF Sundsvall Hockey of the Hockeyettan, the country's third-tier league.

Since then, Laakkonen has played in various leagues across Europe. He played in the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship for Arystan Temirtau and Kulager Petropavl, the Supreme Hockey League in Russia for Yuzhny Ural Orsk, the Belarusian Extraleague for HK Neman Grodno, the Ligue Magnus in France for Gothiques d'Amiens and most recently for GKS Katowice of the Polska Hokej Liga in Poland.

On 14 August 2019, Laakkonen moved to UK Elite Ice Hockey League side Coventry Blaze on a one-year deal.[1]

Laakkonen had originally expressed an interest in staying in Coventry for a second season, however following the suspension of the 2020-21 Elite League season, the winger moved to Austria in October 2020 to sign for AlpsHL side EHC Lustenau.[2][3]

After eight games with Lustenau, Laakkonen transferred to Norwegian side Narvik IK in December 2020.[4][5]

In March 2021, Laakkonen returned to Coventry Blaze ahead of the 2021 Elite Series.[6][7] In July 2021, Laakkonen was then confirmed as a returnee for the 2021-22 Elite League season.[8]

In July 2022, Laakkonen swapped Coventry for fellow Elite League side Fife Flyers, signing a one-year deal for the 2022-23 season.[9]

In October 2023, Laakkonen returned to his native Finland to sign for Mestis side FPS.

Career statistics[edit]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 KalPa Suomi-sarja 2 1 1 2 0
2001–02 KalPa Mestis 5 1 0 1 27
2001–02 HPK Liiga 43 3 20 23 18 8 0 2 2 4
2002–03 HPK Liiga 55 19 20 39 22 9 3 2 5 4
2003–04 HPK Liiga 37 8 21 29 18 4 2 0 2 2
2004–05 HPK Liiga 49 9 23 32 32 9 0 1 1 6
2005–06 Timrå IK SHL 6 0 1 1 0
2005–06 HIFK Liiga 32 14 17 31 8 12 0 4 4 10
2006–07 HIFK Liiga 56 13 23 36 36 5 0 3 3 0
2007–08 HIFK Liiga 30 4 16 20 22
2008–09 HPK Liiga 34 15 21 36 41 3 1 1 2 6
2009–10 HPK Liiga 41 4 30 34 44 17 5 11 16 8
2010–11 KalPa Liiga 54 7 19 26 50 7 1 2 3 2
2011–12 HPK Liiga 53 10 19 29 30
2012–13 LeKi Mestis 7 2 3 5 2
2012–13 Ilves Liiga 9 0 0 0 4
2012–13 IF Sundsvall Hockey Division 1 7 2 15 17 4 3 1 2 3 0
2013–14 IF Sundsvall Hockey Division 1 10 3 9 12 16 2 2 2 4 2
2014–15 Arystan Temirtau Kazakhstan 10 8 10 18 4
2014–15 Yuzhny Ural Orsk VHL 22 5 7 12 11
2015–16 Kulager Petropavl Kazakhstan 35 14 23 37 32
2015–16 Neman Grodno Belarus 9 1 5 6 6 12 2 7 9 4
2016–17 Neman Grodno Belarus 41 13 34 47 18 11 3 5 8 4
2017–18 Gothiques d'Amiens Ligue Magnus 40 10 25 35 24 12 0 7 7 16
2018–19 GKS Katowice Polska Hokej Liga 38 15 33 48 4 16 4 5 9 14
2019–20 Coventry Blaze EIHL 43 9 40 49 16
2020–21 EHC Lustenau AlpsHL 8 2 7 9 0
2020–21 Narvik IK Eliteserien 4 1 1 2 4
2020–21 Coventry Blaze Elite Series [10] 14 1 7 8 12
2021–22 Coventry Blaze EIHL 51 13 39 52 54 1 0 0 0 0
2022–23 Fife Flyers EIHL 53 12 22 34 22
Liiga totals 493 106 229 335 325 74 12 26 38 42

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Laakkonen brings wealth of experience to Blaze". Coventryblaze.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-08-14.
  2. ^ @covblazehockey (October 12, 2020). "Janne Laakkonen had agreed a return to Blaze. Sadly for us, he'll ice for EHC Lustenau during the 2020/21 season.…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Laakkonen to ice in Austria". Coventryblaze.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24.
  4. ^ "Elite Prospects - Transactions and Rumours for Narvik Hockey". Eliteprospects.com.
  5. ^ "Player roundup (week ending 13 Dec)". Coventryblaze.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-12-13.
  6. ^ "2021 Elite Series confirmed for April-May!". Eliteleague.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Laakkonen completes Elite Series roster". Coventryblaze.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-03-28.
  8. ^ "Laakkonen back for 21/22". Coventryblaze.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-07-28.
  9. ^ "Flyers sign Finnish sniper Janne Laakkonen. Fife Flyers have added firepower to their forward line with the signing of sniper Janne Laakkonen for the 2022/23 Elite Ice Hockey League season". Twitter.com. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  10. ^ McAllister, Josh (10 March 2021). "Elite Series format explained | British Ice Hockey". Britishicehockey.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2022.

External links[edit]