Raimo Helminen
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Raimo Ilmari Helminen (b. March 11, 1964, in Tampere, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player. He is one of the most successful Finnish ice hockey players of all time and the most experienced player in the world in international play. He is often called "Raipe" or "Maestro" by his fans.
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Style of play
Helminen has played the position of centre forward in an offensive role for most of his career. His main skill has been as a playmaker and the ability to create scoring chances for other players. He is best known for his calm and even slow playing style and stupendously accurate passing. An often quoted ability is the way he makes all the other players in his line perform better. Thus he has on several occasions been used in the Finnish national team to help young players succeed and develop their skills. In his later career, playing for Team Finland, Helminen has proved his versatility by assuming a more defensive role while younger players have taken more scoring responsibility.
Professional Career
Early years
Helminen has himself said that he developed most of his skills when he was young and spent all his free time playing in outdoor ice rinks. Before he focused on ice hockey he had also played football.
Helminen started his career in his native town playing for one of oldest teams in the country, Ilves. After two gold medals in junior leagues, Helminen got to play for Ilves in the SM-liiga (Finland's top ice hockey league) in 1982. His first international success came in 1984 when Finland won silver in the U20 World Championship tournament in Sweden. Helminen broke the record for most points scored in a Under-20 tournament and was selected for the All-Star team. This attracted the attention of people scouting new talent for the professional teams in the National Hockey League in North America. That spring Helminen also took part in his first Olympic games in Sarajevo.
NHL
The following season he was one of the best players for Ilves, being the second highest scorer for his team and 3rd overall. Being the first line's centre forward he lead Ilves to a league championship victory for the first time in the league's history.
New York Rangers (a team in the National Hockey League) had drafted him in 1984 as their second pick (2nd round, number 35), and Helminen headed for NHL in the fall of 1985. He finished the rookie season with an outstanding 40 points in 66 games. The next fall, however, the new team management sold most of their young players and Helminen ended up in the Minnesota North Stars.
Difficulties and Success
The next season proved more difficult, and Helminen ended up playing a lot in the minor leagues. In the fall of 1987 he returned to home soil to play for Ilves again. He proved to be a success and secured a place in the national team for the 1988 Winter Olympics. There he helped his country win their first Olympic medal (silver) in ice hockey.
His performance included 10 points in seven games and assisting two goals in Finland's surprise 3-0 victory over gold medal hopefuls Canada. The tournament left NHL scouts wondering why this player was not playing in North America. Eventually Helminen got another chance to play in the NHL, this time for the New York Islanders.
Back problems and Sweden
In the spring of 1988 Helminen started having back problems that would hinder his career for the next couple of years. Because of this injury his 1988-89 season for the Islanders was a disappointment, and he left the Islanders for Malmö IF in Sweden.
Helminen's play in Malmö was at times very good and he earned the respect of the fans. However, his back would not heal properly until the summer of 1992 after Malmö had won the Swedish Elitserien (the top ice hockey league in the country). After being Elitserien's first ever foreign scoring winner in 1993 Helminen helped Malmö IF win another championship in 1994.
Late Career
In 1995 Helminen returned again to his home town to play for Ilves and quickly again was a fan favourite. In 1998 Ilves won silver medals in the SM-liiga and Helminen was voted the best player of the season. He was also selected into the league's All-Star team in three consecutive years having remained one of the top scorers. He has been the team Ilves captain since 1999.
International play
In the 1990s Finland finally began gaining consistent success in international ice hockey. This included World Championship medals 1994 (silver) and 1995 (gold) and Olympic medals in 1994 (silver) and 1998 (bronze). Helminen remained a favourite pick in the national team consistently through the decade and played an important role in the national team's successes. Helminen participated in 11 World Championships tournaments between 1985 and 2002.
His number is 14, although he had to change it to 41 when Ilves retired it in honour of Lasse Oksanen, a former player of the team. Helminen continues to wear 14 while playing for Team Finland.
He is married to Leena and they have two children called Anssi and Nelli.
Achievements
- Best Player of Team Finland with Esa Tikkanen and Jarmo Myllys (World Championships 1984)
- All Star Team (World Championships 1984; SM-liiga 1987-88, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99)
- Most assists (Elitserien, 1992-93)
- Most points (Elitserien, 1993-94)
- The first foreign player to be the top scorer of Elitserien (1993-94)
- Best Player (SM-liiga 1997-98)
- Most assists (154) and points (206) scored for Team Finland
- World record holder for most most international games played (330)
- Only ice hockey player who has participated in six Olympic Games: Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002
External links
- http://www.raipe.fi Official site, in Finnish
- Legends of Hockey (http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=12906) Career statisticsfi:Raimo Helminen