Aarne Honkavaara

Aarne Väinö Edvard Honkavaara (June 7, 1924 – March 22, 2016) was a Finnish ice hockey player and coach. He was born in Tampere, Finland.

Playing career Honkavaara played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old. The team which he represented was Tampereen Kisa-Veikot. He participated in the Continuation War between 1942 and 1944 and played his first actual SM-sarja game in 1944 against HSK. He played for Ilves, which was along with TBK, one of Tampere's top teams. He played his entire career for Ilves except for a short visit to Canada, where he played in two exhibition games for Sarnia Sailors. His playing career ended in 1953 when he broke his shin after a Polish player fell onto it during a national team game 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. He re-retired in 1958 after a single game during his second season after comeback.

International play Honkavaara was part of Finland national team and played 47 games for them, scoring 46 goals. He was also team captain of the national team during their first participation at the Winter Olympics in 1952.

Coaching career

After retiring as a full-time player, Honkavaara went on to coach Ilves to three Finnish championships and one silver medal. He was also the head coach for the Finland national team between 1954 and 1959.

Museum founder When the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame was established on June 14, 1979, Honkavaara was one of its founding members and later served as its chairperson from 1983 to 1996.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1941–42 Ilves SM-sarja — — — — — — — — — — 1942–43 Ilves SM-sarja — — — — — — — — — — 1943–44 Ilves SM-sarja 3 7 2 9 0 — — — — — 1944–45 Ilves SM-sarja 3 7 3 10 0 — — — — — 1945–46 Ilves SM-sarja 8 25 10 35 0 — — — — — 1946–47 Ilves SM-sarja 8 25 9 34 0 — — — — — 1947–48 Ilves SM-sarja 6 20 3 23 0 — — — — — 1948–49 Ilves SM-sarja 6 18 5 23 0 — — — — — 1949–50 Ilves SM-sarja 7 11 10 21 0 — — — — — 1950–51 Sarnia Sailors IHL — — — — — — — — — — 1950–51 Ilves SM-sarja 10 20 14 34 2 — — — — — 1951–52 Ilves SM-sarja 5 10 4 14 2 — — — — — 1952–53 Ilves SM-sarja — — — — — — — — — — 1955–56 Ilves SM-sarja 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1956–57 Ilves SM-sarja 5 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1957–58 Ilves SM-sarja 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —SM-sarja totals 62 143 61 204 4 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1949 Finland WC 7th 4 6 0 6 0 1951 Finland WC 7th 6 2 3 5 0 1952 Finland OG 7th 8 2 2 4 0Senior totals 47 46 12 58 0