Aarne Honkavaara, Finnish ice hockey player and coach, Died at 91

  Sports

Aarne Väinö Edvard Honkavaara was born on June 7, 1924, in Tampere, Finland and died on March 22, 2016.

He was a Finnish ice hockey player and coach.

Aarne played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old.

Honkavaara played for Tampereen Kisa-Veikot.

Honkavaara played in the Continuation War between 1942–1944 and played his first actual SM-sarja game in 1944 against HSK.

Aarne Honkavaara played for Ilves, which was along with TBK, one Tampere’s top teams.

The hockey player’s entire career for Ilves with the exception of a short visit Canada, where he played in two Exhibition games for Sarnia Sailors.

Over the period of his playing career ended in 1953 when he broke his shin after a Polish player fell onto it during a National Team match between Finland and Poland.

After retiring, he made a two-season return to playing staff while he was the head coach for Ilves in 1956.

Following his retirement as a full-time player, Honkavaara went on to coach Ilves to three Finnish Championships (gold medal) and one silver medal (runner-up).

Aarne Honkavaara was also the National Team Coach of Finland between 1954 and 1959

Aarne Honkavaara re-retired in 1958 after a single game during his second season after comeback.

Aarne Honkavaara passed away at 91 years old.