Juha Riihijärvi

Juha Riihijärvi (born 15 December 1969 in Keminmaa, Finland) is a former professional ice hockey left winger who played his last season for Bolzano-Bozen Foxes in Italian Serie A.

Playing career

Career in Finland Juha Riihijärvi played 4 seasons for Kärpät which is a team based in Oulu, Finland. After Kärpät, Riihijärvi played 2 seasons for JYP, where he won one bronze and one silver during his time with the Jyväskylä team.

Short visit to North America Riihijärvi was drafted to National Hockey League by Edmonton Oilers in 1991 and was part of the Oilers organization for one season, 1993–94.

Riihijärvi did not get a chance in the NHL and settled playing for Oilers-affiliate, Cape Breton Oilers in the IHL for the whole season. Riihijärvi scored 25 points in 57 games for Cape Breton.

Return to Finland After his short-lived NHL-attempt, Riihijärvi returned to Finland and played two seasons for Lukko. During his second season in Rauma, Riihijärvi won the goalscoring, pointscoring and MVP trophies while Lukko won Bronze, making it the third medal for Riihijärvi in SM-liiga.

Career in Sweden After his good 1995/96 season in Lukko, Riihijärvi moved to Sweden and started to play for Malmö IF in the Elitserien. Riihijärvi would go on and establish himself as one of the franchise names for the Malmö team as he played a total of 470 games for the Redhawks in 7 seasons.

Visit to Switzerland Riihijärvi played the 2004/05 season in Switzerland and his teams were HC Ambri-Piotta in the Nationalliga A and EHC Basel in Nationalliga B.

Final seasons in Sweden Riihijärvi returned to Sweden after he played the season in Switzerland and played two more seasons for Malmö IF.

Riihijärvi and Malmö Redhawks gained promotion from HockeyAllsvenskan to Elitserien in 2006, but were again in Relegation series in 2007.

Move to Denmark For 2007/08 season, Riihijärvi was contracted to Danish Oddset Ligaen-team Rødovre Mighty Bulls. After playing for Bolzano-Bozen Foxes during season 2009/2010, Rihijärvi retired from hockey.

Eliteprospects - Riihijärvi classified as retired

International career

Riihijärvi has played for Finnish national team in 133 games.

Riihijärvi's international highlight came in 1992 World Championship tournament where he was part of the team which won Finland's first World Championship-medal, a silver one.

Riihijärvi also played in 1993 and 1996 tournaments but Finland did not get any medals from them. Riihijärvi's latest international call-up's are from 2000, when he played in the Euro Hockey Tour.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1987–88 Kärpät SM-l 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1988–89 Kärpät SM-l 44 11 23 34 22 — — — — — 1989–90 Kärpät FIN.2 44 38 45 83 32 — — — — — 1990–91 Kärpät FIN.2 42 29 41 70 34 — — — — — 1991–92 JYP SM-l 38 29 33 62 37 10 4 4 8 10 1992–93 JYP SM-l 41 25 31 56 38 9 4 2 6 2 1993–94 Cape Breton Oilers AHL 57 10 15 25 26 — — — — — 1994–95 Lukko SM-l 32 14 26 40 20 9 2 6 8 4 1995–96 Lukko SM-l 50 28 44 72 58 8 3 6 9 4 1996–97 MIF Redhawks SEL 49 27 24 51 28 4 1 0 1 8 1997–98 MIF Redhawks SEL 45 14 25 39 26 — — — — — 1998–99 MIF Redhawks SEL 37 13 15 28 24 8 5 5 10 6 1999–2000 MIF Redhawks SEL 48 20 36 56 26 6 0 3 3 12 2000–01 MIF Redhawks SEL 50 22 32 54 26 9 4 6 10 16 2001–02 MIF Redhawks SEL 50 20 17 37 14 3 1 1 2 0 2002–03 MIF Redhawks SEL 50 14 28 42 10 — — — — — 2003–04 Malmö Redhawks SEL 50 13 22 35 32 — — — — — 2004–05 EHC Basel CHE.2 30 22 20 42 22 10 10 10 20 6 2004–05 HC Ambrì–Piotta NLA 2 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Malmö Redhawks SWE.2 41 13 26 39 28 10 4 7 11 10 2006–07 Malmö Redhawks SEL 51 11 14 25 18 — — — — — 2007–08 Rødovre Mighty Bulls DNK 43 22 36 58 28 7 3 4 7 6 2008–09 Vienna Capitals AUT 47 28 29 57 16 10 2 2 4 8 2009–10 HC Bolzano ITA 31 11 16 27 14 8 2 5 7 2 SM-l totals 206 107 157 264 175 36 13 18 31 20 SEL totals 430 154 213 367 204 30 11 15 26 42

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1992 Finland WC 8 4 1 5 2 1993 Finland WC 6 1 2 3 2 1996 Finland WC 6 2 0 2 4 1996 Finland WCH 4 0 4 4 0 Senior totals 24 7 7 14 8